Last night there was a terrible house fire in Kirkland just blocks from where we live. After getting calls from several of our friends in the neighborhood, we all piled in the car and just like most of the Rose Hill residents, we followed the sound of sirens and the big plume of black smoke.  Fortunately there were no injuries but there were 2 houses badly damaged. Read the article here.

We were pretty close to the fire and took this picture of the blaze. Fire is a pretty scary beast and even from far away you could feel the heat and hear the fierce crackling. My heart went out to the poor homeowners who had to stand and watch as their house got destroyed. Hopefully the road to normalcy is fast and not too terribly difficult for them.

In this particular case there seems to be no details on the cause and whether or not it could be prevented but here are some tips on how to prevent house fires:

1. Stay in the kitchen when using the range for cooking
2. Don’t cook when drinking alcohol, using drugs, or are very tired
3. Don’t sit down or lie down when smoking
4. Check the condition of your electrical system
5. Check the natural gas/LP gas system in your home
6. Consider having a home sprinkler system installed, to extinguish fires when you are away AND at home (**I’ve noticed some new construction homes have this installed**)
7. Check the air conditioning and heating unit in your home (**especially now that more and more Washingtonians are having AC installed**)
8. Check your appliances
9. Be very careful with space heaters
10. Never store flammable liquids near ignition sources
11. Never use extension cords for air conditioners
12. Be careful with candles, oil lamps, and other open flame illumination or decorations
13. Use caution with holiday decorations, particularly Christmas trees
14. Be very careful in any situation where you use an extension cord for extended periods of time
15. Teach your children not to play with lighters or matches
16. Do not pile up lawn clippings near a building
17. Be careful using a grill on a deck
18. After using matches quickly place in or run under water to extinguish any invisible flame or heat source that could cause a fire in the trash can

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