PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — October is Fire Prevention Month, and firefighters want to remind you it's a good time to take a look around your house for hidden hazards.
Chuck McQuilkin, vice president of the Philadelphia Fire Fighters and Paramedics Union Local 22, said this is the month you should stop and review how prepared you are for a fire emergency. It all starts with a home escape plan.
"When you are in a dangerous situation, your mind reacts different then it would when you are not in danger, so the home safety plan is muscle memory," he said.
"You make it fun for the kids and then they will know automatically what to do if God forbid a fire does happen. And it's important because their lives depend on it. Practice makes perfect."
McQuilkin said now is the time to take a good look around for potential dangers.
"It's also important that these kids sleep with their door closed, because every second counts. You could have less then two minutes to escape a home fire from the time the smoke alarm sounds," he cautioned.
"Closing the door at night stops the spread of the fire. It could mean the difference between it being a 1,000 degrees and a 100 degrees. It makes that much of a difference."
City residents who need a smoke alarm are advised to call 311.
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Many fires start in the kitchen, according to McQuilkin.
"Home fires are preventable," said McQuilkin. "Cooking, adults smoking, electrical appliance, frayed wires. It can all start fires."
He also said sleeping with a charging phone is a bad idea.
"Those cords, depending on where you get them, they heat up," he explained. "I look at it as the same as smoking in bed. You fall asleep and these phone chargers do the same exact thing. It takes a little longer but it does happen."
McQuilkin admitted it's hard for firefighters to see the results of these accidents and fires.
"Long after the fire is out and you're back home with your own family, these things hit you," he shared. "It does affect our members. It affects them a lot, more than people know. It's an all-around team effort. We wouldn't be able to do it without each other."
The citizens of Philadelphia doing their part, he said, are important members of that team.
"When they do their part and we do ours," he said, "good things happen."