Restoration Expert Who was a Victim of a Kitchen Fire Shares Tips for Fire Prevention Week

Fire Prevention Week Tips

LOUISVILLE, KY, UNITED STATES, September 29, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In January of 2022, Charlie Horn, president of Paul Davis Restoration of Louisville, Kentucky experienced a kitchen fire that sent him to the hospital and left his family outside of their home for weeks. Charlie fortunately remained calm during a cooking fire even though he was quite injured.

October 5-11 of 2025 is Fire Prevention Week. This experience inspired Charlie to produce some advice and tips on how to prepare your home for a fire and how to protect your treasures if you experience a tragedy such as this.

Make sure your home has enough smoke alarms. Every bedroom should have a smoke alarm, and one should be installed outside of sleeping areas and near common living areas like the kitchen and foyer. Don’t forget to test your smoke alarms every month. For the best protection, interconnect all smoke alarms so they all sound simultaneously when tested.

Plan: Know what to do when you hear the fire alarm sound. Design a fire escape plan for your home that includes two ways out of each room. Start by drawing a map of your home that includes safe routes that lead outside and talk to your loved ones to ensure they understand the plan. Encourage your family to practice an annual fire drill.

Minimize the risk: Humans start nine out of 10 wildfires, but people are at fault for most house fires. Cooking-related fires are blamed for nearly half of all home fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association. If you’re cooking, always stay in the kitchen. Turn off the stove, even if you must leave for a brief time. You should also avoid cooking while tired or under the influence of alcohol. Other suggestions to reduce fire risk include replacing traditional candles with LED versions and always turning off heat-producing devices like curling irons, hair straighteners and space heaters before leaving home and before bedtime.

Check your home: Scan your home for areas that could increase the risk of a fire. Old, worn-down cords can cause an electrical fire. Go through your house and check all your electrical cords for fraying or other signs of wear and tear and replace damaged cords right away. And don’t overload electrical outlets. Only one high-wattage appliance should be plugged into each outlet at a given time.

Prevent: When choosing a home, check to see if it was built after 1976 and has the HUD label to certify it meets certain minimum safety standards. Think about reducing flammability inside and outside of the home by selecting flame-resistant designs and materials like tile, slate and asphalt, or Insulated Concrete Forms, which resist flames for up to four hours.

Protecting family treasures from fire requires a combination of preparation, preventive measures, and appropriate responses. Here are some tips to help safeguard your valuables:

Minimize Clutter: Keep areas around your treasures clear of flammable materials. Reducing clutter can help slow the spread of flames.
Identify Key Treasures: Decide in advance which items are irreplaceable and should be grabbed in an emergency.

Utilize Fire Suppression Systems: Install Sprinklers: A home fire sprinkler system can help control flames before they spread.

Fire Blankets: Charlie’s wife recently discovered a new product that the family finds invaluable. The blankets are available in a variety of sizes and can be thrown on small fires and extinguish them immediately. Go to: www.fireblanket.com

Home Extinguishers: Keep fire extinguishers accessible in key areas, especially in kitchens and garages.
Document and Insure Your Treasures: Make a detailed inventory of your valuables, including photos and appraisals. Consider obtaining or updating homeowners or renters’ insurance to cover the value of your family treasures.

Fireproof Boxes: Store items in fireproof containers when not on display.
Consider off-site Storage: For extremely valuable items, consider keeping them in a safety deposit box at a bank or specialized storage facility.

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For further information or to find a Paul Davis Restoration location go to www.pauldavis.com

Rhonda Sanderson
Paul Davis Restoration
+ +1 847-612-9829
Rhonda@sandersonpr.com

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