The coronavirus is forcing families to spend more time at home with each other, which means there's a potential for more home fires.

Cheyenne Fire Rescue says knowing these four fire characteristics could save you and your family:

  • Fire is FAST! In less than 30 seconds a small fire can get completely out of control and turn into a major fire. In minutes, a house can be engulfed in flames. If you wake up to a fire, you won’t have time to grab valuables because fire spreads too quickly and the smoke is too thick. There is only time to escape.
  • Fire is HOT! Heat is more threatening than flames. Room temperatures in a fire can be 100 degrees at the floor level and rise to 600 degrees at eye level. This heat can melt clothes to your skin. In just five minutes, a room can get so hot that everything in it ignites at once, this is called flashover.
  • Fire is DARK! Fire is pitch black. Fire starts bright but quickly producers black smoke and complete darkness. If you wake up to a fire you may be blinded, disoriented and unable to find your way around the home you’ve lived in for years.
  • Fire is DEADLY! Smoke and toxic gases kill more people than flames. Fire uses up the oxygen you need and produces smoke and poisonous gases that kill. Breathing even small amounts of smoke and toxic gases can make you drowsy, disoriented and short of breath.

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LOOK: Pictures of Downtown Cheyenne Then and Now

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