This week is “Home Fire Sprinkler” Week in Delaware.
And with the coronavirus pandemic keeping people home-bound the Delaware Volunteer Firefighters’ Association (DVFA) is offering some fire safety advice.
“Home Fire Sprinkler” Week runs from May 18 to 23 and is a relatively new advocacy week.
“[It's] for the installation of residential fire sprinklers in new construction homes - be it single-family detached homes or townhomes,” said Delaware Volunteer Firefighters’ Association chair Paul Eichler.
He says home fire safety is taking on new importance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eichler notes there’s been an increase in residential fire calls statewide over the past several weeks.
"What we’ve noticed is that because everybody is staying home, which forces them to do a lot more cooking in the home, our number of unattended cooking calls have gone up significantly and that increases our concern with regards to fires spreading in the home,” said Eichler.
Eichler stresses that people cooking at home should never leave food on the stove or in an oven unattended.
He understands it’s easy to get distracted, especially with the kids at home, but wants people to remember the potential danger if that happens.
Eichler adds having working smoke alarms is essential. He notes even after 50 years of actively promoting smoke alarms - the Delaware Volunteer Firefighters’ Association regularly finds some people don’t have them or don’t take care of them.
He says it’s also important for those living in apartments to have sprinkler systems checked regularly by a professional.
You can get more information here.
