1. Jewelry: Although they may endure superficial damage when they’re engulfed by flames, most items of jewelry maintain their compositions amid high heat. Diamonds, which are formed below earth’s surface under intense heat and pressure, melt at about 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Gold melts at a much cooler temperature – about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit – but that’s enough to survive most house fires. Platinum jewelry is the priciest, so it’s a good thing that the metal’s melting point is just higher than 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Sapphire and Ruby also possess extremely high melting points.
2. Silver Coins: Coin collectors who own myriads of silver coins – like the quarter prior to 1965 – might find them to be their most durable possessions. The melting point of silver is just below 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. So that valuable 1804 Silver Dollar from Queller’s Collection just might live to see an additional 200 years.
3. Filing Cabinets: Steel filing cabinets are built to last so that businesses won’t have to deal with the loss of important files after building fires. Many people keep personal documents in filing cabinets, which are often kept in home offices. Their steel composition and usual placement within a home – often away from the kitchen or fireplace – give them a high survival rate.
4. Tools: Do-it-yourselfers might not have to repurchase the tools they’ll need to rebuild their homes after a fire. Steel tools are extremely durable – the melting point of carbon steel is between 2,600 and 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit, and the melting point of stainless steel is roughly 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Silverware: Most forks, knives and spoons are composed of stainless steel. So even if the fire started in the kitchen, it’s possible that not every item in the room perished. Their small size and placement also allows them to take the heat.
6. Cookware: Cookware is built to endure extremely high temperatures. Most pots and pans are made of steel and iron; the latter of which melts at just below 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Like silverware, their placement within confined spaces helps them survive the not-so-severe fires.
7. Barbecue Grill: Go figure that an item made for fireside cooking could outlast a fire. Most grills are composed of steel or iron, which allows them to last for decades. Of course, most are kept in the backyard – away from the worst of the inferno. But they still may have to endure falling debris.
8. Some Appliances: When sifting through the ruins after a house fire, it’s common to find an appliance or two that remains intact amid the chaos that surrounds it. Many appliances these days are made of stainless steel, which gives them a sleek design and durability.
9. Stone Table: The oldest rocks on this plant have survived billions of years of wear and tear, so it’s no surprise that a stone table could outlast a simple house fire. It took thousands of degrees of heat to make the rocks, and it’ll take thousand of degrees of heat to melt them.
10. Firesafe: The steel composition of a firesafe allows it endure 1,700 degree infernos. Imagine if the entire house was made from the same material as a firesafe? House fire problem solved.

Article credits: Information courtesy of Monty Stonewall’s blog, author of www.firesciencecolleges.com/about/

Live Safe Foundation is an Ohio based non-profit organization (501c3), and leading grassroots movement, devoted to making fire safety education, awareness initiatives and life saving tools available on a broad basis to communities, campuses, and institutions in an effort to reduce national fire fatalities and fire losses. Live Safe aims to help finance fire safety education where means are otherwise unavailable. Live Safe is developing and sponsoring programs to help groups find the resources needed to advance individual and community fire safety.

“This study strongly underscores the need to aggressively work to reduce the number of home fires in this country in order to save lives from fire,” said Lorraine Carli, vice president of communications for NFPA.

During the period of 2003-2007, U.S. fire departments responded to approximately 380,000 home fires a year. These fires not only caused a large number of civilian deaths, they also caused an average of 13,160 reported civilian fire injuries and $6.4 billion in direct property damage.

From 2003-2007, smoking materials caused the largest number of fire deaths. Heating equipment was the second leading cause of home fires and home fire deaths.

The leading cause of home structure fires, civilian fire injuries, and unreported fires continues to be cooking equipment. Forty-one percent of home fires started in the kitchen area and caused 15 percent of the home fire deaths and 36 percent of the reported fire injuries.

Other key findings include:

• Reported home fires peaked around dinner hours of 5 to 8 p.m.
• Only 20 percent of the reported home fires occurred between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., however 52 percent of home fire deaths resulted from fires reported during these hours.
• Thirty percent of reported home structure fires and 38 percent of home fire deaths occurred in the quarter including December, January, and February.
• Reported apartment fires were more likely to start in the kitchen than fires in one- and two-family homes.
• The two leading items first ignited in home fire deaths are upholstered furniture in 21 percent of home fire deaths, followed by mattress and bedding in 13 percent of the deaths.

Properly installed and maintained fire protection can prevent most fire deaths. Forty percent of fatal home fire injuries occurred in properties where no smoke alarms were present. Home fire sprinklers can also help, as the death rate per 1,000 reported home fires was 83 percent lower when wet pipe sprinkler systems were present, compared to reported home fires without automatic extinguishing equipment.

“Smoke alarms have been a key factor in significantly reducing the fire death problem since their widespread use beginning in the ‘70s,” Carli said. “The move to require home fire sprinklers in new homes will be the next step forward in fire protection.”

NFPA offers these safety tips to prevent home structure fires from occurring:

• Keep anything that can catch fire—oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels or curtains—away from the stovetop.
• Keep anything that can burn, such as paper, bedding, or furniture, at least three feet away from heating equipment and have a three-foot “kid-free zone” around stoves, open fires, and space heaters.
• Remember to turn off portable heaters when leaving the room or going to bed.
• Smoke alarm accessories are available for people who are hard of hearing. These accessories activate from the sound of traditional smoke alarms and produce a complex low frequency alarm signal, more effective at waking those with mild to severe hearing loss.

For the complete list of safety tips, visit www.nfpa.org/safetytips.

Article Credits: www.nfpa.org

Live Safe Foundation is an Ohio based non-profit organization (501c3), and leading grassroots movement, devoted to making fire safety education, awareness initiatives and life saving tools available on a broad basis to communities, campuses, and institutions in an effort to reduce national fire fatalities and fire losses. Live Safe aims to help finance fire safety education where means are otherwise unavailable. Live Safe is developing and sponsoring programs to help groups find the resources needed to advance individual and community fire safety.

NFPA released a summary of fire loss from 2008, I saw the tweet by Jennifer Flynn a research analyst at NFPA. The report [PDF] also has a short summary whose image can be seen below.

The Google map mashup is a compilation of fatal fire’s at colleges identified by Campus Firewatch since January 2000. It includes the most-current information on campus fire safety, updated regularly by Campus Firewatch. This includes information on fatal fires across the nation and trends.

Source: Ed Comeau, Publisher, Campus Firewatch