As we all know, glass is one of the most common building materials in our society. It can be used for almost anything; from windows to doors to mirrors! However, like any other material, it has its drawbacks.
When broken properly, glass can be very sturdy and durable, but if hit or cut wrong, it becomes deadly. Unfortunately, due to this danger, people are very cautious when using glass as a material.
Fire poses an especially high risk of harm due to the way glass burns. If there’s enough oxygen present, fire can turn liquid into solid particles, which then burn rapidly and spread even more flames. This effect is what causes sparks during a burn, and also why some types of glass burn hotter than others.
Fortunately, you can make your home safer by reducing the amount of open air that fires have access to. By limiting how easily fuel can reach the flame, your house will hold off combustion longer and hurtle through the process less quickly.
This article will go over different ways to keep your house completely free of holes that allow smoke to escape and airflow that aids the fire’s growth. You will learn how to cover every window with either panes of glass or plastic, and wall surfaces with foam or plaster.
Removing these openings helps protect your family from the harmful effects of a blaze, and is a good place to start when designing your home to be more resistant to lightning and vehicle strikes.
Seal the cracks around windows and doors
After you make sure your house is completely out of flames, turn your attention to protecting your home’s most valuable asset: its glass.
If you have working smoke alarms in your house, test them by putting a piece of paper across the sensor for at least ten minutes. If the alarm goes off, that means there’s a problem somewhere else in the house (most likely due to fire coming in through a window or door).
But even if it doesn’t go off, your house will still protect itself from air infiltration and other dangers caused by broken panes.
Cover any open cracks with weather-sealing caulk or silicone gel sheeting to prevent small amounts of water or air from mixing with flammable materials inside the room. You can also use plastic tape to seal the crack well, but never use metal duct tape as this sets off sparks when it burns.
And don’t forget about floor/wall gaps! Even an inch or two of space between wall and carpet or tile can let enough fresh air into the house to be a hazard. Try caulking these areas or using foam sheets to close them up.
Firestone Environmental Services offers free tips for preventing glass fires and surviving a window breakage here. Read more »
This article was published originally on Dec. 3, 2016 and updated on Aug. 24, 2020.
Use a battery-operated smoke detector
The next step in home fire safety is ensuring you have working fire alarms. Fortunately, there are many types of alarms that work very well!
Most people know about CO2 detectors, but there’s another type of alarm that can save your life in case of a fire — photoelectric sensors or “smoke detectors.” A photoelectric sensor works by detecting light; if it detects enough light, then the device will go off and warn you to get out.
Photoelectric sensors don’t use gas like a standard smoke detector does, which means they won’t need to be close to any source of oxygen for them to work. This makes them an excellent choice when installing a smoke alarm near a fireplace, stove, or other source of heat.
You also don’t have to worry about running out of breathable air either, as these devices only detect light so you would still have access to fresh air while escaping. However, make sure your house has adequate ventilation before placing a smoke alarm closer than 6 feet from a source of open flame or hot surface.
Firefighters often tell people not to put too much emphasis on the alarm itself because most deaths due to house fires happen long after the alarm goes off. They say staying in a room with little visibility is one of the main causes of death, along with being unable to escape or find help once the alarm does go off.
Make sure the fire escape route is clear
Before you start looking for safety glass, make sure there are not things that could impede your egress in case of a fire. This may be difficult if you have glass doors or windows, but hopefully you will have time to close those before trying to evacuate!
Make sure the area around your home is free of anything like furniture, bushes, hedges, etc. that could potentially block your path in an emergency.
Reminder: never use plexiglass as it can conduct heat and create deadly shards when broken.
Practice fire evacuation
After confirming your home is not on fire, your first task will be to evacuate or get rid of all flammable materials. This may mean grabbing an extinguisher to put out any flames you find, moving furniture that could act as fuel for the fire, and/or pulling things like curtains and blankets off windows to prevent them from acting as coverings for new fires.
Once outside, make sure to break down walls and barriers so people have open access to safety. If there’s no where to go, tell everyone else just to stay inside and wait it out!
That’s what I would do if my house was on fire. Hopefully those of you reading this will follow my example and keep yourself, yours, and others safe until help arrives.
Fire can easily spread through air, water, land, and other matter, so try to remove any sources of these before going back in to check on what happened.
Test your fire safety plan
A lot of people assume that because glass is very hard, it will protect you from any kind of burn or heat damage in case of a house fire. This is not always the case!
If a window is made out of clear glass, it will actually help fuel the flames by reflecting some of the light coming inside. It may also break down into pieces which could contribute to the flame as a source of hot particles.
Breaking up of the glass can result in shards flying around and potentially hitting someone or something else causing injury or death. Even if no one is near the windows, broken glass can cause injuries when it is crawled through or stepped on.
It is important to know what types of materials are considered safe during a home fire. An easy way to do this is to test your current fire safety precautions with a small experiment. If possible, try breaking a few windows to see how well they work!
Fire officials recommend testing new fire safety practices in an area that doesn’t pose too much risk to ensure the results are effective.
Make sure your insurance covers fire damage
The thing about glass is it can be pretty spectacularly beautiful, but it also can burn really well. If you are investing in glass that is part of your house or home, make sure you have adequate coverage for fires!
Most homeowner’s policies do not cover losses caused by glass, nor do they typically include coverage for replacing all broken windows and doors.
Many people believe that their policy does, but it may not – so make sure to check yours! You could potentially be left with very expensive repairs or even start over if you want to keep living in your home.
Fire-resistant glass is much more cost effective than new, fully functioning windows and doors, which is why it is important to make sure your policy includes coverage for this type of material. Check with your current insurer as well as state guidelines to see what types of materials are considered certified fire resistant glass.
Keep flames off of flammable objects
It is your responsibility as a firestarter to make sure you do not have easy access to any kind of fuel or material that can cause an explosion.
This includes making sure there are no empty bottles nearby, keeping leftover food in containers that will burn, and ensuring nothing left at home can be used to start a fire.
People often forget about their homes when it comes time to evacuate because they think everything has been taken care of already. Unfortunately, a lot of things needed to be destroyed before help could arrive, so people usually leave without even thinking about what needs to be done next.
It is important to remember that leaving anything behind may give someone else a chance to begin a fire and/or preserve some of your belongings.
Do not use candles
Before you start thinking about how to make your home more fire-resistant, the first thing you should do is stop using candles. The average person will burn around 30–40 candles in their lifetime, which is a very expensive way to enjoy light.
Most candle brands contain chemicals such as phthalate or naphthalene that are known carcinogens. These substances can leach into and potentially poison surrounding materials and surfaces.
Many of these chemicals are also highly flammable so when the candle burns down it could set off another flame or spark. This would be extremely dangerous for anyone in the room with you, especially if they have a sleeping condition at night.
Since most people use candles during the winter months to stay warm, this could put others in danger too. If you must use candles, use only natural ones like flowers or olive oil instead of liquid ones. Also, never leave a burning candle alone!
Removing burnt out candles as soon as possible is important because otherwise leftover wax may still melt, creating an even bigger problem.
