- Keep portable heaters at least 3 feet from anything flammable.
- Turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to sleep.
- Never use your oven to heat your home.
- Have your home heating system and chimney cleaned and inspected annually.
- Make sure your wood stove is properly installed and ventilated.
Fire Prevention Week
Each year, the Rochester Fire Department (RFD) participates in National Fire Prevention Week.
Check back in June for 2026 theme and schedule.
Fire Prevention
- Choose flameless candles. Most offer the same flicker effect as real candles and come in scented varieties.
- Keep traditional candles in a sturdy container that cannot be tipped over.
- Extinguish candles before leaving the room or going to sleep.
- Use flashlights - not candles - for emergency lighting if the power goes out.
- Stay in the kitchen when cooking.
- If you leave the room, turn off the stove and move the pan from the burner.
- Keep things that can burn (oven mitts, towels, wooden spoons) three feet from the stove.
- If a fire starts, slide a tight-fitting lid on the pan and turn off the heat.
- Avoid loose-fitting clothing that can easily catch fire.
- Designate a safe meeting place outside your home that everyone can get to after a fire.
- Use graph paper to draw a floor plan of your home, showing two ways out of each room.
- Make sure each family member is aware of escape options from each room.
- Practice your family escape plan twice each year.
- Walk through your home periodically and inspect all exits and escape routes.
- Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of the home, including the basement.
- Interconnect your home's smoke alarms. This way, when one sounds, they all sound.
- Teach children the sound of the smoke alarm and to exit the home/building when it sounds.
- Place alarms on the ceiling. If alarms are placed on the wall, they must be no more than 12 inches below the ceiling.
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