One worry less: 6 tips to take care of fire safety
You sure can enjoy the ambience of both candles and sauna. Specialist Ilpo Leino from The Finnish National Rescue Association (SPEK) has the best tips for you to up the safety of your home and of the whole building.
Making sure your home's fire safety is top notch with these six easy tips makes even the busiest everyday life a bit less pressing. At the same time you are doing your part in keeping every resident of your home building safe, from kids to kitties and from elders to pet hedgehogs.
1. Get a smoke alarm
When moving into a new home, make sure there is a smoke alarm. Under law, you are responsible for getting one and testing and replacing the batteries. If you are asleep when there is a fire, the alarm gives you 2 to 3 extra minutes to escape from the apartment.
There is a nice variety of plain and designer smoke alarms so you can choose the ones that suite your taste and interior design! Place the alarm to the ceiling and make sure it is in the middle of the room.
”I recommend you to take a deep dive into the emergency plan of your home building. It should be found online on the page of your home building even if you don't live in a SATOhome", says Fire Safety Specialist Ilpo Leino from The Finnish National Rescue Association (SPEK).
Director Juha-Pekka Järvenpää from SATO recommends that all resident read SATO's 'Enjoying your home' guide, especially the part regarding safety in SATOhomes.
Take a read at 'Enjoying you home' guide ›
”If you have any concerns about the safety of your apartment or building, do contact our customer service hastily”, Järvenpää encourages.
There should be one smoke alarm for evety 60 square meters of your home. SPEK has a clear view on the matter: "There should be one alarm in every room, and one near the exit. If your home has more than one storey, there definitely should be an alarm in both floors, and in bigger homes it is recommended to connect the alarms with each other, so when one goes off the others pick up and sound the alarm, too”, says Leino.
Finnish emergency services say in 32% of homes that had a fire in 2009-2018 had no fire alarm, and 16% had non-functioning alarms.
2. Do regular smoke alarm tests
One of the responsibilities you have as a resident is to check the smoke alarms periodically.
We recommend this easy memory-aid: Do the checking in conjunction of the seasons' holidays, say, during the bigger cleaning routines before the Easter, Midsummer, and turn-of-the-year festivities.
”If you have hard to reach ceilings, you can utilize wooden kitchen spatulas or even a shoehorn. Other option is to install a separate battery case to a more reachable hight like near the light switch”, instructs Leino.
Alarm manufacturers most often claim the alarm has only 5 functioning years, and emergency services say the alarms have a maximum 10-year life-span.
3. Isolate the cooktop
Preparing meals in a clean kitchen is efficient and safe. The data from the Finnish emergency services from 2012 to 2016 reveal that a cooktop is the most frequent source of fire alarms.
”A fair amount of caution is always recommended when cooking. It's good to keep the surroundings of the cooktop and stove clear of any flammable materials such as kitchen towels and tissues. In a more rushed cooking situations there can be mishaps if you need to, say, encourage your kids to clean or perhaps answer the phone, while forgetting that the cooktop is on”, Leino reflects.
4. Place light fixtures securely
When the fall falls one tends to light up the home. Both table and floor lamps are advised to secure so that they don't accidentally fall over on the bed or sofa.
New LEDs don't heat up like the old bulbs, but halogens can be hazardous.
”LED's can be safer than halogens, but they too can have some components that heat up. That's why I recommend thinking the lamp placement carefully”, Leino explains.
5. Only bathe in sauna - do not leave textiles there
You might be tempted to use your sauna as an extra storage space or a drying room, especially if you are not keen on bathing in sauna. However we cannot stress this enough: Sauna is not meant to be a storage: If any textiles accidentally hit the sauna stove or the stove turns on due to an unexpected electric malfunction or wrongly set timer there is a substantial possibility of a devastating fire emergency.
”Everybody wins if the laundry is hung to dry in the bathroom after using the sauna for bathing", reminds Leino: "When you leave the sauna door slightly open, the sauna gets dry, the bathroom gets dry, and the laundry gets dry!"
6. Be responsible with candles and parties
Candles create a lovely inviting atmosphere in darkening nights. Do be concious on where you place the burning candles so that they cannot tip over.
Never leave a burning candle unattended.
It is a natural part of everyday life to have friends over for a party. We recommend you to hang some pretty light strings and tealight lanterns up on the balcony to boost the party ambience. However do not place any fire pits, big or small, traditionally used as outdoor fire candles ('ulkotuli' in Finnish), on your balcony. They are best to save for the actual outdoors. Also keep the staircase clear of any decorations.
Article originally published in Finnish in 2017, and updated and translated in English in 2023.