Oakland Township Sentinel just  received this press release from Oakland Township Fire Chief Paul Strelchuk,

 Press Release from Oakland Township Fire Department – 10-19-17

October is Fire Prevention Month. This is a good time to check / review your smoke detectors, escape plans, flammables storage, heat sources, matches, smoking and wiring.

Section 2.11”Fires” of the FEMA manual “Are You Ready?” does a great job of telling you how to do these things.  A pdf of the entire manual is at this link. areyouready_full

A free hard copy of the entire manual can be had by calling FEMA at 1-800-480-2520  and asking for the free manual “Are You Ready?”

Note some of the of the causes of recent serious fires in Oakland Township that caused total losses or very significant property  losses  were:

• Barbeque hot coals place in garage trash the day after the barbeque. The resident thought they were “out”. They were not. (Serious damage – 50%)
• Spontaneous combustion of rags in garage trash used to stain wood trim (total loss)
• Fireworks stored in garage ignited (total loss