Nonprofit Equips Families with Winter-Weather Safety Tips

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) has got some 21 tips to keep homes delightful.

“We could probably come up with 100 [tips,]” said Mike Rimoldi, SVP of education and technical programs at FLASH, but the ones included in the list are key to ensuring safety and preventing winter weather-induced problems in homes.

Keeping your car’s fuel tank at least half full in case the power goes out at gas stations is one of the tips; making sure your home is properly ventilated when using a gas heater or fireplace and running generators outside are others.

These tips are part of FLASH’s Great Winter Weather Prep Preparedness  (opens in a new tab) campaign, which offers tools to homeowners for making it safely through the winter season. FLASH—which is working with partners like FEMA, Home Depot, the National Weather Service, and more—is also relying on social media channels to get its message out.

“Many times, folks already know what they need to do, but this is just that reminder—that little impetus that says, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s right. When I get home, I should do this,’” Rimoldi said. “Or if you get somebody who has just moved into a colder climate … this is the reminder that ‘Hey, your pipes could freeze, so you need to prepare for it.’”

Another tip asks Americans to consider volunteering as snow angels  (opens in a new tab)—essentially Good Samaritans—to check on their elderly neighbors, friends, or relatives that might need some help or assistance during a power outage or another weather-related event.

“The overall goal is to protect homes and protect families,” Rimoldi said.

Nearly every year, there are stories of pipes bursting, or even worse, stories about fatalities or injuries related with generator usage.

“At the end of the day, if you save one person, if you prevent one person from being killed or injured, then the campaign was successful,” Rimoldi said.

Rimoldi notes that these types of campaigns are hard to gauge because if nothing goes wrong, you’ll never know if they were a success. But nothing going wrong is exactly what FLASH is hoping its winter-weather tips ensure.

(iStock/Thinkstock)