The safety of and safety in your home should be the first thing to consider when moving into a home.  There is a lot to consider when purchasing, and selling a home.  The Home Safety Council has a great website that can help you modify your home, if necessary, as well as correcting or updating plans and programs you outline for you and your family regarding keeping your home safe.  More importantly, it's about keeping everyong in your home safe and feeling safe. 

Here's an example:

Home Security: Prepare Your Home Before Leaving Home

Leaving soon for a vacation? Don’t advertise your empty house as a welcome target for thieves; instead, take steps to enhance safety and security. The Home Safety Council is committed to helping families advance home security. Prepare before leaving home, and take note of the following security tips:

Turn Up the Lights

• Put bright lights over porches and walkways in the front and back.

Lock It Up

• All doors to the outside should have working locks.
• Garage and shed doors need working locks too.
• All windows should have working locks.
• Keep all doors to the outside, sliding doors, and windows locked.

Be Able to Get Out

• Make sure everyone can open all locks from inside your home.
• Don’t have deadbolt locks that lock with an inside key. You need to get our fast if a fire starts. A missing key could trap you inside.
• Replace inside-key locks with deadbolt locks that have a “thumb turn” instead of an indoor key.
• Have window locks that open from inside. Do not nail windows shut. Make sure they open easily.
• If you have security bars on doors and windows, have a “quick-release” latch. This makes it easy to get outside in an emergency.
• Make sure everyone in your family knows how to use the latch.

Don’t Help Intruders

• Keep brushes and shrubs trimmed under windows so burglars can’t hide.
• Keep ladders stored in a locked shed or garage so they can’t be used to climb into your home.
• Keep shades or curtains closed over garage and shed windows.
• Keep shades or curtains closed over your home windows after dark.
• Don’t leave toys, tools and equipment in the yard.

When You’re Gone A Few Days

• Make your home look like someone is there.
• Do yard work before you leave.
• Have a family member or friend bring in your mail and newspaper while you are gone.

The suggestions above require extra time, thought and effort, but will provide additional peace of mind. Employ the guidelines of the Home Safety Council, and rest easy while away from home.

For more home and family safety articles, tips, and up-to-date plans for fire escape, and so much more, visit the Home Safety Council at their website.

Fire Safety Around Your Arizona Home

The winter and spring rains result in a lot of vegetation around the Valley. But as temperatures climb, the vegetation dries out…and becomes a serious fire risk. Don’t let your home or property fall victim to a brush fire. Be sure to maintain your property and landscaping in a fire-wise condition.

• Keep weeds and grass cut. The Phoenix City Code prohibits grass in excess of six inches and weeds over twelve inches.
• Remove dead and piled up vegetation, and dispose of it properly.
• Properly dispose of trash and debris. Piles of refuse such as old furniture, boxes and pallets are fires waiting to happen. Even old cars can burn!
• Stack firewood away from structures, fences or anything else that may be combustible.

If you live in an outlying or more rural area, consider these additional steps:

• Create at least a 30-ft. safety zone or firebreak around your home.
• Limit the use of flammable plants in landscape design. Choose fire resistant varieties.
• Plant trees and large shrubs in sparse, separate areas.
• Limit the use of trees and shrubs that have large volumes of foliage and branches.
• Limit the use of plants that have shaggy bark or dry leaves that shed annually.
• Limit the use of plants that develop dry or dead undergrowth.
• Limit the placement of plants next to structures, under eaves, overhangs, decks, etc.
• Limit the use of plants placed at the bases of trees or large shrubs.
• Remove ladder fuels (plants that provide a link between the ground and tree limbs).

Maintenance Hints:

• Conduct regular maintenance to reduce the opportunity for brush fires.
• Remove low hanging branches. Also, remove tree limbs around chimneys.
• Keep the roof clear. Sweep gutters and eaves, and wash the roof on a regular basis to get rid of dry needles and leaves.
• Control the height of ground vegetation and mow the grass often.
• Remove dead and accumulated vegetation, and dispose of it properly.
• Provide enough water to keep plants healthy and green. Keep irrigation systems in good working order.
• Top trees only when necessary as topping creates too many lower branches that can increase the fire danger.
• Remove or thin the dead wood and the older trees beyond 100 feet from the house.
• Store and use flammable liquids properly.
• ALWAYS dispose of cigarettes carefully.