Careless Smoking

Life-Saving Tips

•             Install a smoke alarm on every level of your home.  Test smoke alarm batteries every month and change them at least once a year.  Consider installing a one-year lithium battery-powered smoke alarm, which is sealed so it cannot be tampered with or opened.  If you cannot afford a fire alarm, the Peru Fire Department will provide you with one free of charge.

•         Never smoke in bed.  Replace mattresses made prior to the 1973 Federal Mattress Flammability Standard.

•         Don't put ashtrays on the arms of sofas or chairs.

•         Use deep ashtrays and soak ashes in water before disposal.

•         Don't leave cigarettes, cigars or pipes unattended.  Put out all smoking materials before you walk away.

•         If you begin to feel drowsy while watching television or reading, extinguish your cigarette or cigar.

•         Close a matchbook before striking and hold it away from your body.  Set your lighter on "low" flame.

•         If smokers have visited, be sure to check the floor and around chair cushions for ashes that may have dropped accidentally.

•         Develop and practice a fire escape plan.  In case of a fire, stay low to the ground, beneath the smoke.  Get out.  Stay out.