You've heard the term "casing the joint" which is slang for checking out a building, bank, home before robbing it. Criminals and petty thieves will do this to mitigate their risk, junkies and kids who are up to no good won't. As long as you have some basic safety measures in place the "spur of the moment" criminals will keep walking but the professionals need more deterrents.
After attending a local neighborhood watch safety meeting and chatting with local law enforcement, they shared these tips for protecting your home.
Barriers to Burglary
Burglary is a crime of opportunity. Make their work risky and difficult, and you stand a
good chance of stopping them before they get in.
Your first line of defense
To a burglar visibility means vulnerability. They hide behind fences and shrubbery. The
key is to keep trespassers out while keeping your property visible. Use picket or chain
link fences. Keep hedges clipped down around waist level.
Falling trees are frightening -- and worse, they pose a safety risk not only to your property, but to you and your family, too. Although you can't predict storm damage, you can examine the trees on your property and determine if they pose a higher safety risk than others.
Jennifer Stell compiled a fantastic tree safety slideshow on iVillage.com that lists 13 warning signs of potentially unsafe trees. They include:
*Large, dead branches. Dead branches can fall even on a calm day, so if you notice that a tree has large dead areas, consider getting them removed.
*Mushrooms. If you notice mushrooms at the base of your tree, or especially higher up on the trunk or branches, these are signs of advanced decay--and it's probably time for the tree to come down.
*Twin trunks. Dual trunks are weakly attached to each other, posing a greater risk that high winds or ice will split the tree and cause it to fall.
As Hurricane Irene barrels toward the North Carolina coast and today marks the 19th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew (not to mention the approaching anniversary of Hurricane Katrina), there's no better time to think about hurricane safety.
If you opt to stay in your home to weather the storm, there are a few things you can do to boost your safety and help protect yourself -- and your abode -- from high winds, lashing rain and other hurricane-induced conditions. Tip one? Board your windows.
Tip two? Make sure you have an emergency kit on hand so that you have food, water and First-Aid supplies at your disposal, especially handy in case of power outage or injury.
The National Hurricane Center recommends the following items in your disaster supply kit:
We've had our close calls with fireworks growing up and its always because we were being dumb. If you always remember that fireworks are unpredictable and take care to protect yourself then you should have no problems. But here are some reminders for this year's festivities.
1. Fireworks are unpredictable
You light a firecracker and it doesn't go off or it goes off unexpectedly. These are mass-produced items containing gunpowder and they are made to make sounds and lights not perform in any type of consistent manner. Always assume that a firework is live after you light it. Also don't think that all fuses will burn in the same manner - some will go much quicker than others (note: lighting black cats while holding them then throwing them is not recommended)
2. Fire is a real danger
The problem with fireworks is that you should light them in areas far away from other people but this puts you out in the woods, desert or brush where they become more of a fire danger than if you lit them on your street. Make sure you have a large clearing area before lighting your displays.
