Safety Basics: Fire Safety

There are well over 350,000 structure fires in the United States every year, and older adults are the age group most likely to be fire victims. In this session of our safety series, we're going to talk about fire safety, and there are lots of simple steps people with vision loss can take to make sure they stay safe. We'll learn how we can prevent fires and what we can do to stay safe should a fire occur. Let's get started.

First, we'll address fire prevention. Here's a question. What's the single most common cause of house fires? If you said unattended cooking, you'd be exactly right. The main message here is: stay by the stove while you're cooking. It's that simple. If a pan of grease or oil catches fire, try to cover it with a baking sheet or pan lid. Don't pick up a pan with burning oil and try to run outside, and don't try to extinguish the fire with water. It'll only make things worse.

Ed: Now that you've had a chance to learn a bit with us, we'd like to learn more about you: your name, email address, how you heard about Hadley, and your relationship to vision loss. Learning more will give us a better understanding of how to personalize Hadley just for you. Don't worry, everything you share with us online will be kept safe and secure. Of course, if you prefer to talk through these questions, we're just a phone call away at 800-323-4238.

Taking these few steps saves your preferences so you can continue right where you left off and track your progress every time you log on. Plus, it connects you to the Hadley community, and helps sustain our funding to keep Hadley free of charge. Last but not least, it gives you direct access to experts like me. Now, where were we?