Not long before this article was written, 26 elderly patients in a senior citizen home in Russia, perished in a fire. In virtually every city in every country, there are stories of the elderly dying in fires at home and at senior citizen nursing homes. We must, as a nation, be more considerate and caring for our elderly and pay particular attention to their safety during a fire.
Seniors have many more factors to consider when we speak of fire protection. They have limited resources when it pertains to hearing impairment or sight impairment. They will not be able to hear a smoke alarm or a fire alarm while sleeping and their hearing aids may not be inserted. Now there is a vibrating smoke and fire alarm, which should awaken the hearing-impaired, in the case of a fire.
In terms of sight-impairment, the fire escape plan might be helped if the elderly had a hand rail to hold onto on all walls to follow to the exit. They should have lots of practise with this plan, from each room and know that if they are upstairs, they have to go to the nearest window, open it or smash it to open, to call for help.
You must be careful in which gifts you give to your loved ones. Candles are lovely, but very often a senior citizen might forget to snuff the candle out before retiring for the night. Electric blankets are also a fire hazard, as they can be left on all night, become frayed and worn and cause a fire. Over 5000 fires are caused by electric blankets each year in the UK alone. Electric space heaters should not be used in a bedroom or lounge as they have been known to start an electrical fire.
Speaking of electrical fires, many older homes are not upgraded to allow for proper ampage and modern appliances. Frayed cords on older lamps and appliances are also a cause for concern with the elderly. They may also try to plug in too many appliances into the same socket. Concerning lamps, seniors who have trouble seeing may try a bulb with a higher wattage than is specified and a fire could start. Many seniors hide cords under scatter rugs and carpets and the cords become frayed very quickly.
Seniors already come with a host of physical problems when trying to avoid or escape a fire. Often they are on heavy medication, which can impair their thought processes. They have physical impairments which are crippling and they cannot move as capably as younger people can.
Their thought processes might be impinged by early onset dementia or Alzheimer Syndrome and they would not have the wherewithal to escape a fire. Please have a fire inspector do a thorough walk-through of the home of your elderly relative, in order to make sure that all smoke alarms and detectors are working. Take care of our precious elderly!
Information on fire fighting equipment and fire extinguishers for home or commercial use
