Fire extinguishers are cheap, and they are easy to use too. A friend of mine had a house fire recently. Thankfully, no one was hurt. His experience reminded me of a very simply residential security tip to share.
Make sure you have a fire extinguisher in every room where a person sleeps. In addition to those rooms, keep one in every space that has a high chance of a fire such as the garage and kitchen. For the bedrooms too, make sure you also have escape ladders where needed.
Homes have smoke alarms, but fires move quickly. You should not depend solely on them to get out safely. Smoke alarms should be in all sleeping areas as well as common areas within your home. Some older homes may not have them in each bedroom. Add detectors to those rooms if they are missing.
In addition to regular smoke alarms, you should have at least one carbon monoxide detector. I use kerosene heaters when the electricity goes out as an example, so the additional detector is very important to me. My home is not well sealed, so I'm not too worried about a kerosene heater however.
While on the topic of heaters, it is worth mentioning propane ones. Do not run any propane fueled heater inside your home. The risk of poisoning is too great with them. People die from using them in sealed up tents, so imagine how much worse the risk is inside a sealed up house.
Depending on the situation and type of fire you experience, a fire extinguisher may save your life and allow you to escape.
