Households have had the benefit of fire detection since as early as the 1870s, when inventor William B. Watkins’ heat-sensing alarm system made it possible to automatically send a telegraph to the fire station when the temperature in a home exceeded a specified threshold. Later, fire detection capabilities improved with the development of commercial smoke detectors in the 1960s. Read more
Security cameras are a great tool for deterring potential burglars and catching temporarily successful thieves. If you’re thinking about adding cameras to your property, you’re probably trying to figure out the best places to put them in order to get the most security for the least amount of money. Here are five strategic locations to get you started: Read more
The first fire departments were formed more than 200 years ago. Unlike the high tech equipment wielding community heroes they are today, the first fire fighters were town and community members organized into roving brigades. They walked through their home towns on scheduled shifts, carrying bells and whistles they could ring or blow to call for assistance when they spotted a fire. While undoubtedly helpful for town safety, this system had serious limitations because the location of the manually sounded alarms could not easily be traced in a timely manner. Read more
1. Keep your smoke detectors in working order: Less than 20 percent of fire-related deaths occur in buildings with smoke detectors because they are the fastest and most accurate fire detection devices. Make sure you have at least one smoke detector on each floor of your house and one outside the door of each bedroom. You should test your detectors once every month and change the batteries twice a year. Read more