Is Your Home Arson Proof?
Posted August 8, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Spare wood left in an alley between two houses. A gas can put out carelessly near your garage. Trash strewn haphazardly on a lawn. All of it may be at your home or on your neighbour’s property. You probably never thought much about it. But for an arsonist, it’s an open invitation to literally flame you.
With a firebug on the loose in Toronto, authorities are warning homeowners to take action now so they don’t feed the fire later.
The latest deliberately set fires were in the King and Dufferin area when 11 garbage blazes were sparked in just a few hours.
Bob O’Hallarn, division commander for T oronto Fire Services, advises all of us to make sure we’re not leaving combustible materials out in the open.
“Bins should be closed if possible, and be especially careful about combustibles left close to or up against buidings,” he advises.
Here’s some more important tips:
Arson Prevention
You can’t be on guard 24 hours a day or be expected to stay up nights wondering if an arsonist might be lurking around your property. But there are things you can do to even the odds. Among them:
-Keep doors and windows locked in garages, cars and unoccupied buildings.
-Board up abandoned buildings. Don’t use locks, or other security devices that could trap a person in a building that was on fire.
-Store all flammable liquids such as propane, paints, gasoline, solvents or lawn mowers in an approved storage location such as locked metal cabinets, locked storage units and locked garages (preventing access to children). Keep flammable liquids away from heat sources such as furnaces and any type of heaters.
-Keep matches and lighters out of reach and out of sight of children.
-If you have a back alley or easement, be sure no unauthorized person can get into it.
-Beware of landscaping that may provide cover for someone lurking at night – and a possible source of combustion.
-Ask your neighbours to keep an eye on your home with the promise you’ll do the same for them. Concentate on houses where people are away on vacation.
-Make sure there are no sources of flammable materials left out in the open, like rags, wood, gasoline cans, etc.
-Consider having an emergency collapsible ladder if your bedroom is on an upper floor, to make it easier to escape by an upstairs window.
The behaviour of firestarters usually begins early. See the early signs.
Source: City of Toronto
