Guest blog post by Tracy Schlater, Farm Safety 4 Just Kids

Believe it or not, winter fires are common due to additional heat sources. Today I’d like to share with you a few precautions you can take to protect your family and your farm.

10 Ways to Help Avoid Farm Fires

1. Install smoke detectors on every level of your home. Be sure to place one outside each bedroom.
2. Test smoke detectors monthly. Replace batteries twice a year, regardless of whether you think it’s necessary. One easy trick for remembering to do this is to change batteries each time you change the clocks for daylight savings.
3. Replace smoke detectors that are 10 years or older.
4. Place fire extinguishers in strategic locations, making sure they are accessible in your kitchen, barn, farm buildings, and machinery including tractors and combines.
5. Plan your escape routes. Practice fire drills at home once a year. Show your children all of the safe ways to escape a fire from every room of the house and every building on the farm. Designate an outdoor meeting place and make it part of the drill.
6. Keep matches away from children.
7. Never enter a confined livestock area or housing structure if it’s on fire.
8. Install lightning rods.
9. Store gasoline and other flammable fuels in proper containers in cool places.
10. Turn off engines when refueling machines.