YOUR SAFETY MATTERS
Keeping up storm shutters all year long is a life safety hazard.

Did you know?
Storm shutters can greatly impede firefighting operations and limit the ability to ventilate a structure of toxic smoke and gases, and prohibit, safe evacuation of trapped victims Firefighters are forced to use as power, saws, and other heavy equipment to gain access to doors and windows blocked by storm shutters Keeping up your hurricane shutters all year as a way of protecting your home can actually attract burglars instead of deter them because they think that no one is home

FACING THE FACTS
There have been several instances in Florida, where firefighters haven’t been able to get into burning homes due to hurricane shutters being deployed outside of hurricane season.

In 2004, four children and an adult were killed in a house fire in Homestead, Florida. That same year, a 53-year-old man was trapped inside his home in Fort Lauderdale during a fire.

SAFETY TIPS
• All residential rooms are required to have two points of egress. It is important to have a way to escape if there is a fire.

• Establish an emergency escape plan and ensure that everyone in the house is aware of how to exit in the event of a fire.

• When a storm has passed and it is safe to venture outside, remove the shutters or plywood from at least one window or door in every room, particularly sleeping rooms.

• Pay attention to the news, radio, and other forms of communication. If a hurricane is headed your way, putting up your hurricane shutters is OK. However, you should take down your shutters as soon as your area is safe.

• A fire inside a home with shuttered windows and doors may not be visible until it’s too late

• Make sure only to deploy shutters when there is an imminent threat of a hurricane to protect your home and your family.