Gabriel Muñoz, manager of the Professional Firefighters Association, offered advice on how to improve fire safety in homes.
‘Never leave your phone charging overnight’: an expert’s warning on how to prevent fires.
It’s a gesture that’s familiar to almost everyone, but it can be very dangerous. Charging your phone at night can cause a fire, and you could end up in a fire while you sleep. Gabriel Muñoz, head of the Professional Association of Firefighters (APTB) .has issued this warning about the word “smoke”. “If we drop our cell phone on the floor, it can cause a crack that we can’t see, and if we leave it charging overnight, it can overcharge and, if it’s in bad condition, explode,” he explained.
One of the most common causes of residential fires is the electrical system. For this reason, Munoz also recommends taking extra care when using chargers and not using chargers from other devices, such as a computer or tablet, for a phone. “Each device has its own charger that is adjusted to charge it as quickly as possible with maximum safety. If we overcharge it, it can explode and catch fire,” he explains. The APTB manager also urges us to pay attention to the surface we choose to charge the device, “We should never put it on a cloth, cushion, sofa or bed. You need to find a place that is as non-combustible as possible. For example, the kitchen countertop if it is marble or stone.”
“A lot of fires happen because of extension cords.”
Another risk factor in homes has to do with how we use extension cords. According to Munoz, the problem is not the devices themselves, which allow us to plug in multiple devices at the same time, but how we use them. “If we plug an extension cord into a three-socket extension cord and plug another extension cord into it, we overload it and risk causing a short circuit,” he explained.
Expert firefighting tips
In case the preventive measures don’t work and the fire does occur, the APTB manager gave Mara Torres some advice on how to escape the flames. Muñoz reminded everyone to close the doors to rooms, and if the exit to the outside is blocked, run to the farthest room and cover the door with a towel or cloth to prevent the entry of smoke, which is responsible for 70% of fire deaths.
If a fire occurs in a neighbor’s home, Munoz recommends making different decisions depending on exactly where the fire is. “If the fire is above us, we go to the stairwell, and if we see there’s no smoke, we close the front door and get out as quickly as possible. But if the fire is below us, even if there’s no smoke in the stairwell yet, we never leave. Because if you get caught in thick smoke, you will die in three minutes,” he explained. In this case, they recommend closing the doors of the house and waiting for the fire department to come and rescue us.
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