How to protect yourself from fire and equip your home for protection in case of fire

The Bronx is on fire killed 19 people, nine of them are children. The cause of the fire was a faulty heater, the smoke from which spread throughout the building. Experts outlined some of the steps residents of high-rise buildings can take to keep themselves safe during a fire. Gothamist.

Recommendations based on interviews with Charles Jennings, Associate Professor in the Department of Safety, Fire Safety and Emergency Management and Director of the Christian Regenhardt Center for Emergency Response Research at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Steve Zirinski, Co-Chair of the American Institute of Architects, New York City Building Code Committee, and Jim Bullock, co-founder and president of NY Fire Consultants.

How to protect yourself and loved ones

• Smoke detectors: Make sure each bedroom has a smoke detector and one within 4,5 meters of the bedrooms. In new residential high-rise buildings, buildings less than ten years old, the law requires smoke detectors to be wired or permanently connected to the building's electrical system. Residents of older homes will find individual smoke detectors attached to the ceiling or walls. Check regularly to make sure they are working properly and the batteries are still OK.
• "Flammable" and "non-flammable" The materials a building is constructed from can go a long way in deciding which is safer to run or take shelter in place. Fire Safety Guide The City of New York defines “flammable” buildings as buildings made of wood or other materials that can ignite on their own. If this applies to your home, experts say it's best to quickly leave the building during a fire. "Non-flammable" means that the building is built materials such as steel, brick and concrete that will not burn and are likely to retain structural strength. In these buildings, it may be safer to take refuge in your apartment. This information should be published in the lobby of your building in the fire safety manual. You can also find her on the Department's website construction by searching for a Certificate of Ownership for your building. It is also included in the fire safety manual that is sent out every three years to apartment residents.

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• Prevent smoke from entering the apartment:the main cause of death from serious fires is not the flame itself, but the im smoke and poisonous vapors... If you are hiding in a non-flammable home during a fire, experts recommend putting wet towels at the front door of your apartment and covering the entrance with towels or tape. If you can't see any smoke outside, open all windows at the top and bottom to prevent smoke from building up in your apartment. However, experts say that you should not break the glass, as this will make it impossible to close if smoke begins to penetrate from the outside.
• Automatic doors: These doors are designed to extinguish and contain a fire up to an hour and a half. If there is a fire inside the apartment, the door will prevent the fire from spreading into the hallway. In the event of a fire in a public entrance, automatic doors will prevent the spread of fire in apartment... Make sure the doors are working properly and remember to close them when leaving the apartment during a fire.
• Emergency exits:know where they are and how to get there. For residents with disabilities, it is best to plan how to get out of the building if the elevator is not working. If you live on the 19th floor, how will you go down or go up to the roof? New York City fire regulations also require that all apartment doors and public areas an evacuation plan was posted.
• Fire alarm with the possibility of loud Communications: A public address system allows firefighters to communicate with residents and give directions to those trapped inside high-rise buildings. The fire department may ask residents to stay in their apartments while firefighters check the fire in the building. Firefighters can use the hands-free system to evacuate residents when it is safe to do so. If such a system is not available, then firefighters have no real means of communicating with all residents at the same time.
• Sprinkler sprinklers: Does your high-rise building have a sprinkler system for the entire building? After two deadly fires in 1999, New York passed legislation requiring sprinkler systems in most new residential buildings and existing ones that have undergone major renovations.
• Heaters: if you are using a heater, make sure it is equipped with modern safety measures such as automatic shutdown in the event of a rollover. Make sure the plug is intact and has no loose prongs or stray wires. Because heaters consume so much energy, they should be plugged directly into a wall outlet, not an extension cord. Keep the heater at least 1 meter away from anything that might burn, such as curtains and newspapers.
• Where to complain and to whom? If your building does not have these essential systems, the first step is to inform the management company, homeowner, or supervisor. If that doesn't work, call 311 or submit a complaint to the Department of Construction.