Tips To Keep Your Basement From Flooding

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Fight Back The Floods

As New Englanders, we should always be ready to protect our basements from flooding — particularly when caused by spring rains or severe storms.

This blog has covered the risks storms and floods pose to our businesses and homes, and to seasonal homes in particular. A flooding disaster can cost thousands of dollars in damage to property, and inflict huge stress on homeowners.

Our basements can be inundated at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected ways, as one North Woodstock, New Hampshire, couple learned last April. According to a CBSN Boston January article, the couple’s basement was flooded by 16 inches of water — which they alleged was part of the runoff from a commercial ice castle attraction.

The couple spent $30,000 on a system to drain the estimated 35,000 gallons of water from the basement and keep it dry. Read more →

Young woman setting burglar alarm at home.

Stay Protected During COVID-19 Crisis

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Maintain Your Alarm/Safety Services During COVID-19 Crisis

First, we wish all safety for you and yours through the COVID-19 crisis.

It’s also worth remembering that though many of us are working from home and practicing social distancing, we still need to be reasonably cautious. This means maintaining our security and environmental surveillance and monitoring systems.

Sobering Statistics

Despite our relative isolation at home, we’re still vulnerable to theft or vandalism. That’s because despite good times or bad, criminals never really rest. In fact, contrary to what we might expect, crime hasn’t universally decreased: in some areas, it’s shown an uptick.

Young woman setting burglar alarm at home.

In New York City, general crime incidents spiked by 12 percent in the first three months of 2020 (as compared to the prior year) according to a news story. Burglaries rose by 22 percent, or 533 more cases. Possibly this is a mark of desperation, but whatever the cause, it’s a fact that robberies generally do rise in such crises, as local police and FBI statistics will likely bear out.

Read more →

Chimney Fires: A Serious Danger Year-Round

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

You may think of your chimney as an architectural adornment that provides warmth on cold winter days, but in reality, it’s a tunnel to remove dangerous flue gasses from your home. These fumes cause condensation inside the chimney, which in turn deposits creosote — a highly flammable chemical that frequently causes chimney fires.

As this blog has previously noted, the threat of chimney blazes in New England, and beyond, is real. Chimney fires can have many consequences, including tragic ones. In Massachusetts alone, in 2018, there were 556 fires involving chimneys, fireplaces and wood stoves, according to mass.gov. These led to one death and $3 million in property losses.

Additionally, the very nature of chimney fires makes them extremely dangerous, according to an informative website. The fires aren’t dramatic: they survive on limited air and fuel, meaning they burn slowly — and are often undetected until an inspection. Without the owner realizing what’s happening, these fires can melt a chimney, or make it crack and collapse. Then the fire moves into the house — and potentially, into the wood frame.

Lack of Diligence Makes Chimneys Risky

Chimney fires can strike anywhere. In February, a chimney fire in Plympton, Massachusetts, ignited the roof of a house, according to the local press. It took firefighters 10 minutes to control the blaze, and luckily, there were no injuries. “This incident could have been a lot worse and is a good reminder to make sure your chimney is inspected and cleaned yearly,” the Plympton Fire Department proclaimed on Facebook.

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How Long Can You Last Without Electricity?

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Power outages are an unfortunate reminder just how dependent we are on electricity for, well, almost everything.

Outages can deprive us of communications, heat and other necessities. During the winter in New England, power loss can be a serious threat to safety, not just an inconvenience. A power outage while no one is home can also disable security systems — leaving homes and other properties vulnerable to thieves or vandals.

Many things can cause an outage, according to a Massachusetts government instruction guide. New Englanders are familiar with weather-related causes, including snow, freezing rain, high winds, thunderstorms and hurricanes. These outages can happen in any season and can last for days or weeks, depending on the severity of the damage.

Year-Round Power Outages

Winter snow, ice and violent winds are major culprits for downed power lines in New England. Earlier this month, high storm winds left nearly 90,000 people without power in Eastern Massachusetts, as a local news station notes.

One Rhode Island news station reported that trees through the region “snapped like toothpicks” from the gusts, which exceeded 70 miles per hour. In the Ocean State, 25,000 people lost power. More than 11,000 Bay State residents remained without power the next day — along with 35,000 New Hampshire residents.

Such extreme weather events can hammer us throughout the year. Just last fall, a so-called nor’easter struck and left hundreds of thousands of New Englanders without power, as NPR notes. The article states the combo of “heavy rain, strong winds and floods” took out power across three states.  

Both those incidents are dwarfed in comparison to the August 2003 blackout that affected not just Massachusetts, but states through the Northeast, as well as Canada. The incident started with a high voltage power line in Ohio brushing against some overgrown trees, says an article in Scientific American. The line shut down, starting a cascade of incidents that led to 50 million people losing power for up to two days. Other results included 11 deaths and a loss of some $6 billion.

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Your Pets Are Vulnerable to Theft: Are You Ready?

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

You may not have realized it, but National Pet Theft Awareness Day, February 14, just passed us by. It’s a great time to think about our beloved pets and how to protect them from thieves or malicious people. The awareness event launched in 1988, notes a blog on the Puppy Up Foundation website, with the aim of educating pet owners in protecting their animals from theft.

The potential animal theft problem in New England (and beyond) is greater than you may realize. Close to 2 million pets are stolen annually, according to some estimates. Among the reasons is profit, website PetFBI notes, as thieves may be motivated by getting reward money.

Read more →

Shedding Light on Crime

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

You couldn’t be blamed if you assumed light (electric or natural) is an effective crime deterrent tool here in New England. After all, no self-respecting burglar would try to rob a house or a business where he or she could be easily observed and reported. 

If we look at some crime statistics, we might discover that just leaving the lights on isn’t necessarily useful — without an accompanying comprehensive defense strategy. In fact, according to an Alarms.org article, in 2015:

  • There were 1.5 million daytime burglaries 
  • And 1.3 million nighttime burglaries 

This means there was a 6 percent higher chance that a burglary would happen between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. than in the evening. The reason is simple: most people are away during the day performing errands or working. While night offers a certain amount of security to thieves, it also increases the likelihood that someone will be home. 

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‘Tis the Season for Holiday Home Safety

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

The holidays pose unique home and business safety risks. With so much travel, gift procurement and giving, thieves have an excellent opportunity to strike our homes and small businesses.

A recent Boston 25 article states the challenge like this: “While the holidays are a great time to sit back, relax and enjoy time with family and friends, it is also prime time for criminals to act. Whether it’s an online scam or breaking into your home, when December rolls around the rule of thumb is to sleep with one eye open.”

New England Grinches and Trolls

Just this month, three thieves robbed the Christmas decorations from a Norwell, Massachusetts, garden center. According to 7 News, the act was caught on video. The stolen objects are valued at $150. “We don’t know why they would do it to us,” says the store’s co-owner. “We’re honest people here, we work hard and we just want everybody to be happy.”

Naturally, the risk to our homes and businesses exists year-round, as the Boston 25 piece explains. One of Boston’s Back Bay residents, who operates a fitness studio on the first floor of his apartment house, installed a camera at his building’s entrance.

The results of his surveillance were shocking, amounting to “a revolving door of criminal activity.” He also says he lost count of “recent run-ins with trespassers and thieves in his front vestibule.” The holidays can exacerbate these dangers.

Read more →

Keep Your Home Safe from Carbon Monoxide

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Winter is here, and we’ve already weathered our first big snowstorm of the season. Now, as temperatures keep dropping and the weather becomes more inclement, we New Englanders will be spending more and more time indoors.

This also means we need to be doubly on the alert about carbon monoxide — the “silent killer.” As this blog has noted previously, carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless and odorless gas. It leaks from common heating and lighting sources, like faulty furnaces, portable generators, stoves, lanterns and gas ranges.

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Keep Thanksgiving Safe: Follow These Tips

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

With Halloween behind us, the holiday season has officially begun. It’s now time to think about home and travel safety in the midst of this season’s hustle and bustle.

Getting together with family and friends can be hectic, and the potential for accidents skyrockets with children running around, large dinners prepared and the fireplace roaring. As this blog has previously noted, Thanksgiving Day is the most common day for kitchen fires. Cooking accidents are the leading cause (77 percent) of Thanksgiving house fires in the United States.

That’s not even to mention the risks of traveling. Between heavy traffic, weather and other factors, Thanksgiving travel demands special precautions, as this safety checklist from a law office notes. Unfortunately, alcohol-related accidents caused 800 deaths between 2012 and 2016 during Thanksgiving alone.

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Defending Against Cyberbullying

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

In 21st century New England, protecting our loved ones’ lives and wellbeing must factor in new digital threats. Complete strangers can reach into our homes electronically, defeating any physical safety system we’ve installed.

And with the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and social media platforms, the risk of cyberbullying – simply defined as inflicting intentional electronically enabled harm – only grows, as a guide on the subject illustrates.

Read more →