Fire Safety Part 2

The Santa Ana winds can bring about fires faster than any fire squad can contain them, so it is best be prepared to deal with them efficiently and to ensure none of your tenants is hurt. Here is some more precautions and what to do once a fire is in the apartment. It comes from phoenix.gov:

---

Tips for living safely in apartment buildings or mobile home communities:

• Make sure you have smoke alarms that work.
  The Fire Code requires working smoke alarm(s) in every apartment unit/mobile home. Existing apartments/mobile homes require smoke alarms in the hallway outside sleeping areas. Newly constructed apartments/mobile homes now require them IN the sleep room, as well. Remember to check the batteries once a month, and replace the batteries once a year.
• The apartment/mobile home complex is required to have a fire extinguisher within 75-feet travel distance.
  If extinguishers are not provided outside the apartments/mobile homes, then each apartment/mobile home is required to have one.
• The Fire Code states that no person shall use fixed or portable barbecues in or under any attached covered patios, balconies, covered walkways or roof overhangs.
  When in use, barbecues should be located on ground level and be a minimum of 5-feet from buildings, structures, covered walkways or roof overhangs.
• Don’t park in front of fire hydrants and don’t park in fire lanes.
  Respecting the fire restrictions may literally save your life. When friends visit, be sure to remind them to park only in appropriate parking areas.
• Never leave smoking materials burning. Never smoke in bed.
  In 2001, the most common cause of apartment/mobile home fires was careless disposal of smoking materials.
• Have a fire escape plan. Practice it.
  Know at least two ways to get out of your apartment/mobile home. Pick a family meeting place outside the apartment building/mobile home. Don’t use elevators (they may take you right into the fire.)
• Make sure there’s a number on your apartment/mobile home door.
  If there isn’t, contact management.
• Keep a copy of your apartment/mobile home number and apartment building number, inside your apartment/mobile home, near the phone.
  The information will then be handy for babysitters, and it will be there if you panic.
• Complex owners and managers need to be sure gated driveways are accessible to firefighters.
  75-percent of multi-housing complexes and mobile home communities are now gated. Work with the fire department to make sure access and requirements are met.
• Don’t run extension cords under carpets or from unit-to-unit.
  They can easily overheat. Extension cords are for temporary use only. They are not to be used as a substitute for permanent wiring.
• Get acquainted with the elderly folks in your building or community.
  If there’s a fire, they may have extra difficulty getting out. You may be able to help them, or you can direct firefighters to the elderly person’s apartment/mobile home.

---

What to do if there’s a fire

• Get out of the apartment.
• Once out – STAY OUT! Do not go back in for ANY reason.
• Call 9-1-1 from a safe location.
• Give the dispatcher as much accurate information as you can.
• Use your fire escape plan. Go to the designated family meeting place.
• Try to let neighbors know to get out. Help elderly folks or families who have many children.
• Have someone meet the fire trucks when they arrive, if it can be done safely.
• Keep the fire lanes open.
• If you can’t get out, use a mobile phone to stay in touch with 9-1-1 dispatchers. Shine a flashlight or wave a sheet out the window to alert firefighters that you’re trapped.
• Stay calm.

Fire Safety

The past couple years California has been rocked with many wild fires that caused tremendous damage, and the worst part is that it has claimed lives. Apartments, and dorms for college kids, can be one of the easiest places for a fire to catch victims. Here is some information from a website that can show the causes and how to prevent them


From Ontario Tenants:

Consider that some of the leading causes of apartment fires are:

• Cigarettes! Don't smoke if you are in bed, or if you are likely to fall asleep on a couch.
• Candles! They are particularly dangerous around children, pets such as cats, if left on an uneven surface or near draperies and upholstered furniture.
• Cooking fires. Don't leave your cooking unattended. If the contents of a pot or skillet are on fire, first try to smother it with a metal fitting lid.
• Baseboard heaters. Make sure that they are not close to furniture, draperies, or that other flamable items could fall to rest on them such as newspapers. Check the wall outlet to make sure it is not overheating when the heater is on.
• Lamps using quartz halogen bulbs. These bulbs produce pure intense light due to running hotter than normal incandescent lamps. Ensure that nothing touches the bulb when in operation. Make sure nothing is ever placed on the light and that draperies will not flow onto the lamp with a breeze, especially with upward facing lamps

Electrical Safety

A few quick safety tips:

• Pull electrical plugs out of the wall socket only by the plug and never by the cord !
• Make sure cords are in good condition, that they are not frayed or cracked.
• Cords should not have any furniture resting on them.
• If you need an extension cord for an air conditioner, use one meant exclusively for air conditioners and only one. Check to make sure that neither end of the extension cord and where it is plugs into the wall socket are not overheating when the air conditioner is in operation.
• If an outlet has loose-fitting plugs, contact the landlord/superintendent to have it replaced. Badly contacting outlets can overheat leading to fires.
• Have any broken wall plates replaced.

Never cut off the third (safety/ground connection) off of electrical cords. That third prong is to protect YOU if the outlets are properly grounded.

Online Classifieds

As you may already know, we have recently added Real Estate classifieds on our magazine. Most of the classifieds are multi-family housing units and investment properties. Most of them are in the Southern California region, but we also have many properties outside of California if you are looking for out of state investment opportunities that are more affordable.

Finally I got down to putting up the classifieds online, so that everybody has the ability to look at the properties in an easy-to-use format. So head along to our website and check out the potential investments that are out there. The coming years point to a low in the housing market, and no one sees it picking up steam for years, but that means it is great for those buying and looking for the long-term.

Getting to Know the Area Part IV

The next area we are looking at from Frommers.com is San Fernando Valley and Central Eastern, which is Zone 4 and 1.

The San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley, known locally as "The Valley," was nationally popularized in the 1980s by the notorious mall-loving "Valley Girl" stereotype. Sandwiched between the Santa Monica and the San Gabriel mountain ranges, most of The Valley is residential and commercial and off the beaten track for tourists. But some of its attractions are bound to draw you over the hill. Universal City, located west of Griffith Park between U.S. 101 and California 134, is home to Universal Studios Hollywood and the supersize shopping and entertainment complex CityWalk. About the only reason to go to Burbank, west of these other suburbs and north of Universal City, is to see one of your favorite TV shows being filmed at NBC or Warner Brothers Studios. There are also a few good restaurants and shops along Ventura Boulevard, in and around Studio City.

Glendale is a largely residential community north of Downtown between the Valley and Pasadena. Here you'll find Forest Lawn, the city's best cemetery for very retired movie stars.

Pasadena & Environs

Best known as the site of the Tournament of Roses Parade each New Year's Day, Pasadena was spared from the tear-down epidemic that swept L.A., so it has a refreshing old-time feel. Once upon a time, Pasadena was every Angeleno's best-kept secret: a quiet community whose slow and careful regentrification meant nonchain restaurants and boutique shopping without the crowds, in a revitalized downtown respectful of its old brick and stone commercial buildings. Although the area's natural and architectural beauty still shines through -- so much so that Pasadena remains Hollywood's favorite backyard location for countless movies and TV shows -- Old Town has become a pedestrian mall similar to Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, complete with huge crowds, midrange chain eateries, and standard-issue mall stores. It still gets our vote as a scenic alternative to the congestion of central L.A., but it has lost much of its small-town charm.

Pasadena is also home to the famous California Institute of Technology (CalTech), which boasts 22 Nobel Prize winners among its alumni. The CalTech-operated Jet Propulsion Laboratory was the birthplace of America's space program, and CalTech scientists were the first to report earthquake activity worldwide in the 1930s.

The residential neighborhoods in Pasadena and its adjacent communities -- Arcadia, La Cañada-Flintridge, San Marino, and South Pasadena -- are renowned for well-preserved historic homes, from humble bungalows to lavish mansions. These areas feature public gardens, historic neighborhoods, house museums, and quiet bed-and-breakfast inns.

"Your Story" $100 Promotion

We want to let you know that we are accepting submissions for the "Your Story" promotion, where you tell about your apartment management stories, until June 31, and then we will decide the winner in our July issue.

From now until June 31 we are accepting stories no longer than 1,500 words, and we would also like a picture to put with the story.

So if you would like an extra $100 dollars, then send in the best stories you have about the apartment industry to us. We are excited to hear what you have to say.