What could be more festive or fun than a beautiful, live tree twinkling with lights gracing your living room during the holiday season? It's just not Christmas without the tree and, for some people, that tree must be real.
A real, live tree is a beauty to behold and, though it can require more upkeep, is often worth the extra hassle just to enjoy the smell of pine and the look that only a real tree can provide.
Along with that extra cleanup, however, comes extra safety precautions. Let Alarm Center provide you with the information and tips you need to keep your home and loved ones safe this Christmas season.
The first thing to remember about natural trees is that there is a significantly higher fire risk than with artificial trees, which have often been treated with flame-retardant materials.
Christmas tree fires, though rare, are - according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) - more hazardous. When they do occur, they cause more damage and have a higher likelihood of causing death. In fact, according to the NFPA report, Home Christmas Tree and Holiday Light Fires:
On average, one of every 18 reported home structure Christmas tree fires resulted in a death compared to an average of one death per 141 total reported home structure fires.
What the NFPA found is that natural trees kept moist and regularly watered are "are unlikely to catch fire unintentionally".
To show just how quickly a dry tree can go up in flames and fire can consume the room it is in, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) put out this important, yet terrifying, video demonstration:
And while you may have seen the above video, you might not be aware of it's equally important and eye-opening cousin, which shows a shocking side-by-side comparison of both a dry and a properly maintained "wet" tree catching fire.
Both videos, and more information, can be found on the NIST's informative Fire Safety for the Holidays page. Other pages with equally good information that we recommend you check out:
You can also review this handy, visual guide, Christmas Tree Safety, compiled by the NFPA. Click here for a printable .pdf version.
We here at Alarm Center want to help keep you, your home, and especially your loved ones safe this holiday season - and always! Check back here for more safety information and tips to help you do just that year-round.
[Call Alarm Center Security today for a FREE quote on a security system for your home or business - 1-800-97-ALARM - or visit our website to see if you qualify for a $0 down installation - alarm.net]
If you have an old or pre-installed alarm system in your home and would like to be monitored, we can help!
Perhaps you have moved into a new home that has an alarm system already installed, or maybe you had an alarm system installed yourself years ago but have never, or no longer have, it monitored. You have decided you would like your home to be monitored, but aren't sure if you have to get an entire new system installed or if an alarm company can work with what is already there.
Alarm Center has the solution! We can monitor any system, no matter who installed it!
Our customers are monitored through our local U.L. Listed and Approved Central Station; the largest in Baton Rouge. Central Station is never offline and so reliable that it stayed online and functional through Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Issac, keeping our customers safe during and after the storms.
What About Switching?
Do you have a system but are unhappy with your current company or unsatisfied with their response time? Give us a call at 225-292-5276. If you switch to us we'll give you 6 months FREE!
Alarm Center offers flexible solutions for your security needs, whether you're a homeowner who wants to keep their loved ones and possessions safe or a business owner with commercial property to protect. We work with each client individually to build a protection plan tailored to your specific needs.
[Call Alarm Center Security today for a FREE quote on a security system for your home or business - 1-800-97-ALARM - or visit our website to see if you qualify for a $0 down installation - alarm.net]
Having an alarm system is an important aspect of smart home safety, but homes with a monitored alarm system are 2-3 times less likely to be burglarized. Alarm Center offers monitoring from a local, state-of-the-art facility known as Central Station.
Our Central Station is U.L.-approved and located in Baton Rouge. The largest monitoring station in the city, it has the most up-to-date, high-tech equipment and software to monitor and process our customers' alarm signals.
Central Station is online 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In fact, even during the widespread outages caused by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Issac, Central Station never went offline!
Your Alarm Is Going Off – What Happens Next?
Depending on the signal coming from your alarm panel, which is wired to a phone line, the police or fire department or an ambulance will be dispatched immediately to your home or business. You will, also, be notified with a phone call (to your work and/or cell) within seconds of the alarm sounding and the call going out to the appropriate department.
To break it down even more for you, this is what happens when your alarm is tripped:
- A signal is sent from your control panel to our monitoring facility.
- We call your premises to verify the alarm. Your password is on file with us so that you can identify yourself in the event of a false alarm.
- Our Central Station dispatches the proper authorities. (Police, Fire or Medical)
- Our operators contact your emergency call list to notify you or your assigned emergency responder of the alarm and dispatch.
But I Don't Have a Home Phone!
We can still monitor you! Alarm Link will transmit your signal to our Central Station even if you don't have a telephone line.
Whether you don't have a phone line at your residence, or want to monitor a location where phone line access is not available, such as a boathouse or garage, our Alarm Link Wireless Monitoring is the solution.
Whatever Your Needs, Alarm Center Has You Covered!
[Call Alarm Center Security today for a FREE quote on a security system for your home or business - 1-800-97-ALARM - or visit our website to see if you qualify for a $0 down installation - alarm.net]
It was in 1984 that the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) first designated October as Crime Prevention Month. Throughout the month, local governments, schools, businesses, and the like are encouraged to work together in educating the public about crime prevention.
If you are interested in getting your school, business, or community to take part in this October's Crime Prevention Month, the NCPC has kits to help get you started. The theme for this year can be downloaded at 2011-2012 Crime Prevention Month Kit on the NCPC website.
One of the main focuses of Crime Prevention Month is on getting citizens to join together to help create safer communities. One way that this is accomplished is by making people aware of, and getting them involved in, the NCPC's Celebrate Safe Communities program. From the website:
Celebrate Safe Communities (CSC) is crime prevention done the right way – local people working with local law enforcement to address local issues. CSC spotlights communities' crime prevention efforts, enhances public awareness of vital crime prevention and safety messages, and recruits year-round support for ongoing prevention activities that help people keep neighborhoods safe from crime and prepared for any emergency.
Visit their website today to utilize resources and tools for your community, or to register your own CSC-inspired event.
Working together, we can all help to create safer communities for our families and children here in Louisiana.
[Call Alarm Center Security today for a FREE quote on a security system for your home or business - 1-800-97-ALARM - or visit our website to see if you qualify for a $0 down installation - alarm.net]
