Fire Prevention Week

Fox\'s avatar

The reaction isn’t as good if you warn them.
I was walking around with a fire extinguisher. You’d think she’d already be on alert.
I’m surprised we didn’t do a comic about our new escape ladders.
(We may get one after I finally test mine out. Always test your emergency gear when it’s *not* an emergency.)

Mandy\'s avatar

A week late, but fire safety is always relevant, so I drew it anyway!

Ideally, check your smoke detectors monthly, it only takes a minute to two (and that’s if you’re like me and need to get a stepstool or a chair – tall people like Fox can just reach up and poke ’em) – be safe!

29 comments on “Fire Prevention Week

  1. Sometimes I wonder if Fox’s tail is getting larger. Reminds me of Gingitsune.

  2. I’m paranoid.

    I check my smoke and carbon detectors twice a week.

    they call me insane, but we’ll see who’s insane when we don’t die. : /

    1. Then again, if there’s never a problem with the detectors, you are insane. On the other hand, if there is, you can let out an “But they called me mad!” speech.

  3. At least Fox won’t have to ask where you keep the fire extinguishers…again.

  4. I “test” my smoke detectors by burning things when cooking. Good news! All my detectors work.

  5. For some reason Seley’s poofed tail and crossed feet make me laugh. 🙂

    1. I like how she bit a piece out of the cup while splashing it on the stairs.

    2. And not the fact she’s swinging from the light fitting?

      My father does this all the time. It’s frustrating at times.

  6. Did Mandy take a bite out of the coffee cup?
    I’m the one who pushes the button and I still flinch.

    1. from the splash behind fox she swung her arms out and broke it on the stairs.

  7. I live under a rock, so, good luck with that setting on fire.

  8. Pushing the button only tests the alarm and the batteries.
    To test it properly you’d need to light a … I’m on it!

  9. Why do they only show the reminder PSAs in the middle of the night? Checking the alarms when most people are asleep seems like a bad idea, and I always forget by the next morning.

  10. I prefer mine, a simple little red LED to flash, and a soft little chirp so you know the speaker is still good. I only have to listen to a full scale wine if I really feel like it and the dogs are already outside.

  11. I think I have some disorder… I always feel the need to read all the little curtailed background text and newspaper lines… When I can’t make it out, it drives me CRA-ZY! ;3.

  12. Think it is about time we get new fire extinguishers… the one in the pole barn says 1998 and the one in the garage says 2004.
    Also on a side note about fire extinguishers…
    My brother found an old fire extinguisher at a garage sale. It was a pretty neat glass bulb with what we thought was just water… NOPE! Not water, but carbon tetrachloride! Basically, during a fire, the glass breaks on it’s own eventually, or someone breaks it open. Well carbon tetrachloride removes the oxygen in that area so the fire goes out, but if you are in that same area, your suffocate. This thing was full and could break easily. We got rid of it after two years of not knowing how dangerous it was. Neighbor who is a fireman disposed of it properly. From now on my brother will be researching what he finds as soon as he gets it.

    1. Yeah, the fire academy we did our emergency training at nearby has one on display. All the firefighter classes leave a gift/display on the wall.

      They’d also use it in datacenters, as servers don’t mind being suffocated as much, as long as air is moving, it doesn’t have to be oxygen.

      Common term was HALON.

  13. I don’t know whether it’s by law or simply corporate policy but our apartment management provides a fresh 9v battery each year which the maintenance person swaps in whether the current battery is still live or not.

  14. Shoot, I set mine off just by breathing. Not sure if it’s the dragon ancestry, or the ghost chilis.
    Seriously, however, we rent and they put the ONLY detector in the house in the hall right next to the open kitchen. It goes off if I boil water, cook a pizza, pretty much anything over frying an egg. Since I love to cook, I have to take the batteries out on my way into the kitchen. If the thing would be quiet when there ISN’T a fire, and work IF there ever is (we are very careful non-smokers) I could leave the F*king thing alone!

    1. They can get over-sensitive if they collect enough dust and stuff in the sensor. I had a smoke detector that would go off intermittently, and found that it had a spider living inside. Fortunately, the battery-powered ones are fairly cheap to replace.

    2. IIRC, there are different types of detectors, using different detection technologies. Might be worth looking into the one it uses and switching to the other.

  15. The way “stop, drop, and roll” is repeatedly hammered into the brains of elementary school children, I thought spontaneous combustion would be a real issue.

  16. Having been temporarily displaced for the last month due to a 5 alarm fire in my apartment building that started in the apartment across the hall from me, I can honestly say, smoke alarms and detectors only do so much.

    Be aware of what you are doing and keep it safe. The fire in my building displaced 18 units worth of families including mine, and did millions of dollars worth of damages, in all of about 15 minutes. It was determined later that it started because a tenant left a lit cigarette in an ashtray on his balcony sitting next to some flammable liquid and left.

    The liquid was open, the fumes spread out, and woompf! All because he wasn’t paying attention to where he left his stupid ashtray and didn’t make sure his cigarette was out.

    1. We had a fire at our place when a culinary student accidentally tossed his chef’s coat onto his halogen lamp instead of his usual hook for it (and then left to go to a bar). Fortunately multiple people heard the smoke detector and we’re only about one mile from the nearest fire station. The fire was put out before it left his bedroom and there was still a fair amount of damage, with at least four units displaced. So yes, please try to be careful with fire risks people.

      (Still, halogen lamp in Arizona? WTF!?)

    2. Yikes! Soooo, practice good fire safety for yourself – and have good homeowners/renters insurance…!

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