|
SOUTH DAKOTA FACTS:
In the Home Safety Council's
report "The State of Home Safety in America", South
Dakota ranked 12th amount the 50 states in the number of injuries occurring in the home.
|
|
Anthony Carbajal
Rapid City-Pennington County Emergency Management
315 Saint Joseph Street
Suite B-31
Rapid City, SD 57701
(605)394-2185
(605)394-2180 (Fax)
E-Mail Emergency Mgmt
|
| |
Adobe Acrobat Reader is
needed for some forms.
Click on the image below
to download it for free.
|
| |
|
| |
|
 |
|
|
Pennington County Home >
Emergency Management > Home Hazards
|
|
|
|
Home Hazards
|
|
Interior Hazards
Keeping your house safe helps keep you and your family safe. Minimize the impact of an
emergency or disaster by safeguarding your home. Anything that can move, fall, break or
cause a fire is a potential hazard.
- Check batteries in smoke alarms every six months and make sure they are on each
level of your home and outside every bedroom.
- Repair defective electrical wiring and leaky gas connections.
- Fasten shelves securely.
- Place heavy objects on lower shelves.
- Hang pictures and mirrors away from beds.
- Brace overhead light fixtures.
- Strap water heater to wall studs.
- Repair cracks in ceilings or foundations.
- Bolt your house frame to the foundation.
- Store weed killers, pesticides and flammable products away from heat sources.
- Place oily polishing rags or waste in covered metal cans.
- Clean and repair chimneys, flue pipes, vent connectors and gas vents.
If a storm warning is in effect with high winds…
- Bring things indoors like lawn furniture, trash cans, children’s toys, garden equipment,
clotheslines, hanging plants and any other objects that may fly around and damage your home
and property.
- Look for fruit, bird feeders and other objects in trees that could break off in high winds.
Cut or take them off and store them indoors.
- Unless local officials advise otherwise, leave natural gas on because you will need it for
heating and cooking when you return home. If you turn gas off, a licensed professional is
required to turn it back on, and it may take weeks for a professional to respond.
- Propane tanks often can become dislodged in disasters. Turn off propane gas service.
- If high winds are expected, cover the outside of all windows of your home. Use shutters that
are rated to provide significant protection from windblown debris or fit plywood coverings
over all windows. Damage happens when wind gets inside a home through a broken window, door
or damaged roof. Tape does not prevent windows from breaking and is not recommended.
If flooding is expected...
...consider using sand bags to keep water away from your home. It takes two people about one
hour to fill and place 100 sandbags, giving you a wall one foot high and 20 feet long. Make
sure you have enough sand, burlap or plastic bags, shovels, strong helpers and time to place
them properly.
- Move electronic equipment and appliances to higher levels of your home and away from
windows. Wrap them in sheets, blankets or burlap.
- Make a visual or written record of all your household possessions. Record model and
serial numbers. This list could help you prove the value of what you owned if those
possessions are damaged or destroyed, and can assist you to claim deductions on taxes.
Store a copy of the record somewhere away from home, such as in a safe deposit box.
|
|
| Materials reprinted with the permission of the
American Red Cross Serving King & Kitsap Counties
|
| |
|
