8 Teens Killed In Chicago Fire Reminds Of Fire Safety



















How Smoke From Fires Can Affect Your Health



  • runny nose
  • burning eyes
  • coughing
  • wheezing
  • difficulty breathing/shortness of breath
  • chest pains
  • palpitations
  • fatigue
  • nausea
  • long-term lung and heart diseases
    • Angina
    • Asthma



What Is Arson?








Fire Safety: Tips for Residential Houses



Tips for Residential Housing Fire Safety


1. Don’t be lazy, react to the smoke alarm



2. Exit through doors


3. Avoid smoke inhalation



4. Stop, Drop, and Roll!


5. Call for Help from a Second Story Window





Fire Safety: Tips for High-Rise Apartment Redsidents

One of the biggest threats to your life in a high-rise apartment can be a fire. After all, high-rise fires have been the result of many catastrophes in American history; claiming chunks of lives in one foul swoop. The smallest spark can have a life of its own, quickly growing into a blaze that’s engulfing the building. The scent of smoke and the roar of the flames rushing through the halls of the building will send high-rise dwellers into panic mode.

If you live in a high-rise apartment building, don’t take fire safety lightly. Even if you are a cautious person, another person living in the same building may be careless. In the event of a fire, remember to stay calm and think before you act.

Fire Safety Tips

We have gone ahead and put together a list of fire safety tips from sources like Insurance Information Institute. While some of these tips are specific to high-rise fires, most of them can be applied across platforms.

    • I know, it seems insane telling someone in the middle of a fire not to panic. Staying calm will help you think straight and remember the tips to come.
  • Even if the smoke is light in the apartment, don’t stand up.
    • While the smoke may not seem thick, inhaling it can be detrimental to your chances of survival. Cover your mouth and stay low.
  • Personal belongings aren’t worth it.
    • Don’t bother gathering all of your personal belongings. The only thing you should make sure to grab is your keys because you may need to turn back if the fire is blocking the stairwell.
  • Feel the door before opening it.
    • Use the back of your hand to feel if the door is hot. If the door is hot, do not open the door, the fire is right outside. If the door is not hot, use the door to exit your apartment. Then find the nearest staircase and exit the building.
  • If you’re unable to leave your apartment, wait for help.
    • If the fire is right outside your door, do your best to cover and vents or crevices that the smoke can seep through. The fire department even suggests putting wet towels or sheets at the base of your doors.
  • Don’t jump!
    • I repeat, DON’T JUMP. This is an important one. When you jump out of the window, not only will you supply the fire with more oxygen, but you might not survive the fall.

We hope that you will remember some of these tips if you’re ever involved in a high-rise fire. Always remember to practice fire safety. While another person may not, you can sleep easy knowing that you are doing your part to keep the building safe.

Common Causes of House Fires

If you’ve ever said to yourself “it’ll never happen to me” about anything, then watch out. Life has a way of surprising us, and no one’s invincible. Sometimes fires can spread because of nature, sometimes because of careless personal accidents or sometimes because of the negligence of our next door neighbors. It’s important to be prepared, and fire is like everything else: sometimes knowledge is power. These are some of the common causes of house fires, so read on to see if you’re making any mistakes that could leave you homeless.

Distraction is the number one cause of house fires. This can remain true in several situations. If you’re a lover of candles, you need to remain absolutely vigilant. If candles are left near flammable materials, a fire may result. However, sometimes store-bought candles come in glass containers. These can crack or break, spilling wax and flame all over the place. Make it a routine to keep candles burning for only so long, then extinguish them. You’re giving your body a break, too: left burning for hours on end, candles can be carcinogenic.

People are also prone to distraction while they cook. We live in an era of kitchen TVs and smartphones that force our attention away from the task at hand. Cooking fires can be even more dangerous because people don’t know how to properly extinguish them. First, extinguish the source of the flame. If you’re cooking with oil or grease, do not use water to put out the flame! Cover the fire with another pot or pan, or, alternatively, dump baking soda on it. For larger fires, use salt!

These two causes of house fires can also result in a pretty terrible burn injury. If you get hurt while trying to put out a fire, seek medical attention right away.

Smoking is also a great way to distract yourself. Many smokers don’t pay attention to where the cigarette lands after they flick it away, and this leads to a number of unexpected fires. Try to smoke outside, and be sure to have a dedicated waste receptacle for cigarette butts.

It’s important to do routine spot checks of any electrical device you own. Make sure the wiring isn’t frayed or defective. All it takes is a single spark to burn your house down, and you’d be surprised how common those sparks can be–especially if you own pets that like to chew on things when you’re not looking. Avoid using water on electrical fires. These are best extinguished by removing the oxygen, but remember to pull the plug first.

If you have kids, teach them about fire safety as early as possible. Inquiring minds want to know, and even as adults–fire can be awesome. For kids, the urge is even worse. How does this burn? How does that burn? Teach them how to get out of the house, and try to keep matches or other fire starting devices well out of reach.

What Is The Crime of Arson?

Like any law currently on the books, the crime of arson might not be as simple as it sounds. This is especially true because the extent of the damage might not be apparent at first glance. There’s a difference between setting fire to a single tree in the middle of the forest versus burning someone’s home down. How the crime of arson is treated also depends on the region where the crime is committed, and other factors that may determine the legal outcome of arson involve degree of severity.

Usually, firefighters called to the scene will be able to quickly determine whether or not the fire was accidental or intentional. This is because most arsonists will use an accelerant to help feed the fire.

First of all, the crime of arson assumes you deliberately and/or maliciously set a fire with the intention to damage property. This can include privately owned homes, vehicles, or other property, but it can further extend to government parks or forests. If you set fire to a home that has been abandoned, you’ve still committed arson. If the fire you set was accidental, then you may not be charged with arson. In such a case, it’s important you find yourself an experienced lawyer like the ones at Barket Epstein to help you navigate the complicated laws that will help govern your case to conclusion.

It’s also worth noting that if arson results in the death of another, the perpetrator will likely be charged with murder. Sometimes peoples think they can circumvent the law by burning their own property in an attempt to collect insurance payouts, but an arson charge still applies.

The degree of severity is usually divided into several classes of intent. First-degree arson generally refers to the setting of a fire in an occupied building, whether that building has one or more occupants. This charge is more likely when someone inside a building has been injured or killed as a result of the blaze. Second-degree arson results from the burning of an unoccupied building. If a building has been abandoned or is not in use, then an arsonist will likely be charged in the third degree. There are other degrees depending on where one lives.

In addition to the degree of severity, other labels may be used to categorize the crime. Arson may be charged as a misdemeanor, a felony, or prosecuted as criminal mischief. Some areas differentiate between accidental, reckless, and intentional setting of fires. This is why fire safety is so important; if you’re not careful, you may be charged with reckless burning of property because of your negligence.

How Does Smoke Affect Your Lungs

The last half-century has been an incredible time for the medical community, and certainly for those whose lives have been saved by the advances of medicine and surgical offerings. We’ve learned a lot about how certain foreign objects or particles affect our bodies, for better or worse, and we’re learning more everyday. The next decade promises to bring advancements that most of us can’t even imagine. Even with all the changes, smoke inhalation is still extremely dangerous. These are just a few of the ways in which smoke affects your lungs.

First, it’s important to know what kind of smoke you’ve inhaled. Smoking is obviously harmful to your overall health, and can shave years off your life. Because of lung-related diseases, cancers, and other related ailments that crop up over time, taking a single breath in your later years can become a grueling challenge.

Smoking doesn’t just damage your lungs, though. It affects your brain and heart as well, and negatively impacts your entire body. It has an adverse effect on blood circulation, which leads to a number of cardiovascular conditions. These include heart attack, coronary heart disease, damaged blood vessels, and damaged arteries. This can also cause stroke, which can result in major brain damage and leave you severely disabled for the rest of your life. Smoking can also increase your chances of developing a life-threatening brain aneurysm. When these abnormalities in the brain-based blood vessels pop, many people do not survive. They are extremely dangerous, and the likelihood of occurrence will only go down if you quit smoking for five years.

Smoking can reduce your fertility, irritate and age your skin, weaken your bones, cause bad breath, stain your teeth, and increase the chance of stomach or lung cancer. The list is endless, and only you can protect yourself from these side effects.

Second-hand smoke can have similar effects. So can simple wood-burning smoke. In fact, studies have shown that wood-burning stoves can adversely impact your health as well. The normal signs of poor health from other kinds of smoke include lesser symptoms like coughing, wheezing, and asthma, but also can include more serious conditions like heart attack and lung cancer. Like smoking cigarettes, they reduce the number of years you have left. This is because burning wood or other materials releases the pollution that those materials have stored inside. Burning wood releases dangerous carbon monoxide and other air toxins that can be extremely hazardous to your health.

No matter the type of smoke inhaled, you should be aware that you’re increasing your chances of mild short-term health problems and dangerous long-term health conditions. In order to reduce these chances, do not smoke, and avoid casual burning of wood or other materials. 

Here is a video showing how smoking affects your lungs:

You shouldn’t breathe in any smoke inclulding marijuana smoke. You can get pulled over for a Drug DUI. That can be bad for you and your family.

What To Do If Your Neighbor’s House Is On Fire

One of the most terrifying events imaginable is the destruction of property–or even life–in a fire. Even if everyone makes it out okay, you know that many of your cherished memories and probably some valuables are gone forever. There are some things that insurance money simply cannot replace. Even though this possibility is scary, sometimes knowing that it’s happening to people you care about is just as bad. What happens when you look next door and there’s smoke pouring from inside your neighbor’s house? It can be difficult to know what to do during a time of panic, and you’ll want to know how to help the most.

First, don’t assume that someone else will call 911. Don’t wait in an effort to find out if it’s already been done, either. Do it yourself, and do it right away. Second, do not put yourself in danger. Legally, it’s best to help from outside. Putting yourself in harm’s way could make the problem even worse. If your neighbors escape through the back door but you go in the front, someone might then come looking for you. Keep in mind that if any help you provide actually results in more damage to the property or even surrounding homes, you might be liable for whatever your neighbor’s insurance does not cover. Even if you’re just trying to help, you have to think about your own wellbeing too.

Things can get more complicated the bigger the fire becomes, especially in a densely packed residential area. Sometimes a fire will move from one home to the next, and in this case liability becomes a primary concern for everyone affected. If your own home was damaged because of a fire at a neighbor’s home, then be sure to document the area as best you can, and provide a full report of whatever happened to the authorities. After that, submit a request to your own homeowners insurance. They might cover some of the damages, or they might hassle your neighbor’s insurance company to cover the costs. Either way, it shouldn’t remain your responsibility.

The same is true if your neighbor’s negligence caused your own home to catch fire. In the worst case it could turn into a criminal issue, but that’s for the authorities to decide. Do your best to provide a true and unbiased accounting to any questions you might be asked by police or insurance investigators. These questions might be extremely uncomfortable, but they’ll save everyone a lot of trouble down the road.

That’s it. There’s not much you can do if your neighbor’s house is on fire. Call the authorities, provide whatever first aid you can a safe distance away from the burning home, and let firefighters do their work. Then again, if your neighbors ask for your garden hose–turn on the water.

Here is a video of someone’s neighbor’s house on fire – quite a scary event!