Fire: how to prepare for it?
Summer is the most common season for fires. Owners and residents should be vigilant and do everything in their power to avoid them. This, especially since they always spread very fast. Practical tips for securing your home.
Make the surroundings of your home safer
Limit vegetation, brush regularly, especially in dry weather. If you keep a garden, be sure to follow a few safety rules:
- Your plants should not be more than 50cm tall;
- If you have trees, establish a minimum distance of 5m between each;
- Make sure you have terraces or walls, which could stop the spread of a fire;
- Clean dead and dry leaves regularly.
Keep your firewood stack in a specially designed fire-proof room, more than 10m from your home where possible.
If your garden furniture is made of wood, make it fire retardant.
Lock all your flammable products (petrol, gas canisters, paint, household products etc.) in a fire-proof room.
Things to know before building
There are solutions and precautions to be taken to build a home that is more resistant to the risk of fire. This is especially the case if you build near a wooded area.
This includes choosing the following materials:
- Stone, brick, stucco and concrete rather than non-fire retardant wood, plastic and synthetic resin.
- Use sealed tiles rather than metal or fibro-cement for your roof.
- Double glazing.
- Avoid wood for your shutters.
Seek proper advice from your contractor, depending on your location and your exposure to risk.
In the event of a fire
- Call 112 (single emergency number in Luxembourg).
- Make it easier for fire-fighters to arrive by opening your gate.
- Get out of your house.
To limit the spread
- Move wooden garden furniture as far away from the fire as possible at the start.
- Use a garden hose or other outdoor water supply to moisten the garden walls and outer parts of the house as much as possible. Flames spread less quickly in moisture.
Your home has been affected by a fire?
Find out more in our advice and useful procedures section.
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