Protect your condo before your next vacation

Many condominium owners have an action plan to follow in the case that their home catches fire while they are at the property. But what happens if your condo unit catches fire while you’re not there? Do you have a plan of action for that scenario? When leaving your home unattended for several days at a time, it is important to have a plan in place to help protect your residence.

You do things like tell your neighbor that you really trust that you’ll be out of town. You might hire a house or dog sitter to keep an eye on the place while you’re away. Most people will be sure to activate their home alarm system. In case you never thought about it, here are some tips for protecting your condominum from fire while you are away.

Turn it off

Before you leave for your trip, make sure that you turn off appliances that you can’t easily unplug. Electric and gas stoves and ovens are the main appliance that apply to this category.

Unplug it

Unplug everyday appliances before you leave. When powerful storms or strong electrical charges occur, they have the power to damage electronics that are plugged in. These incidents can create dangerous house fires. You won't want to worry about the weather where you live while you’re vacationing, so the safest thing to do is just unplug!

Check batteries and bulbs

Check the batteries in your fire and particle detectors before you leave, as well as soon as you return. You want to ensure that it is functioning properly before you leave, and you want to be sure that the batteries didn’t run down while you were away. Test the alarms before you leave and once you return, as well.

If you plan to leave a lamp on in an attempt to deter vandalism, check the bulb in the lamp. Ensure that the bulb is the correct wattage for that appliance.

Close the doors

According to closeyourdoor.org simply closing the doors in your home helps to prevent the spread of fire, and possibly could help eliminate some fires. How does this work? When doors are closed, they can slow fires down, reduce toxic smoke (which is very beneficial when you are at home), reduce the oxygen that feeds and grows fires, and decrease the temperature of the fire since heat helps fires grow, too.

Inform a neighbor or friend

Tell someone that you trust that you will be out of town. Besides looking out for burglars, if your trusted friend sees smoke, they’ll know to call the fire department right away. They can also quickly inspect your condo after any severe weather to make sure that nothing was affected.

Pre-Vacation Checklist

To review, here’s a checklist that you can use to prepare your condominium for your next vacation:

Turn Off:

• Gas or electric oven and stove

Unplug:

• Television

• Radio

• Computer

• DVD Player

• Lamps

• Microwave

• Toaster

• Coffeemaker

• Any other appliances that you typically leave plugged in

Close:

• Doors to every room and closet

Check:

• Smoke/Particle/Water Detector batteries

• Timed lamps and their bulb wattages