Guest Post: Weathering the Weather – 10 Severe Weather Home Safety Tips

While many homeowners know the importance of buying a top notch home security system to protect their family and home, there are still other measures that security systems may not completely be able to ward off. Unexpected severe weather catastrophes are often not made a priority for homeowners to plan for. However, severe weather accounts for thousands of injuries and deaths every year and can cause severe damage to your home resulting in extremely costly repairs.  Put the following safety tips into action in your household to be prepared for severe weather emergencies.

1. All cities have methods of warning citizens about potential weather hazards. Learn how they alert your town of potential weather hazards that are approaching.
2. Create a family evacuation plan. Part of your plan should include the contact information for a trusted friend or family member to contact if anyone in your household got separated in an emergency situation.
3. Post emergency phone numbers near the telephones in your house. Be sure everyone knows the emergency numbers and has them saved in their own phones or address books.
4. Invest in quality smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and home alarm systems.
5. Sign your family up for safety courses such as CPR and first aid courses. Simple classes are worth investing in because they are skills that will last forever and the skills learned can be the difference between life and death in an emergency situation.
6. Remove clutter from the floors and especially near doors and windows. Also remove potentially hazardous items that can easily fall or break during an emergency evacuation. [millenniumfly comments: always have a handy flashlight by the bedside too.]
7. Always have nonperishable foods handy in case of emergency. As a rule of thumb you should always have enough food and supplies to last for at least three days.
8. Teach your children how to dial 9-1-1. [millenniumfly comments: there are many cases where very young children have saved a parent's life by knowing this.]
9. Create a disaster supplies kit with items you would need in case of an emergency evacuation such as first aid supplies, food, water, medicine, sanitation devices, batteries, clothing and blankets. Keep a smaller disaster supplies kit in the trunk of your car.
10. Practice and maintain your emergency plans. Emergency plans are worthless if everyone in your family does not understand the plan. Also, test your smoke detectors monthly and change the batteries two times each year. Test and recharge your fire extinguishers according to the directions at the same time that you test your smoke detectors.

These tips are from Protection 1®, one of the largest and most respected alarm monitoring companies in the U.S. Visit Protection 1 today for installation, maintenance, and monitoring of single-family home security systems, business security systems and multi-family security systems.