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Prepare your household

Make your home safer

Four short jobs that prevent the most common injuries and fires after a storm or earthquake.

6-minute read · Reviewed October 2026

1. Home hazard hunt

Take 30 minutes and imagine strong shaking in every room.

  • Strap the water heater top and bottom with heavy metal strapping (not plumber's tape), with flexible connectors.
  • Anchor tall furniture to studs. Keep heavy items on low shelves. Nothing heavy hung over beds.
  • Add cabinet latches in the kitchen, bathroom, and garage.
  • Check that chimney bricks are secure and the house is bolted to its foundation (check with Kitsap County permits).
  • Store chemicals and solvents low, in unbreakable containers.

2. Utilities

  • Gas: know the signs of a leak (a smell, or hissing). Shut off only if you suspect a leak: a quarter turn with a wrench kept at the meter. Never turn it back on yourself. The utility has to do it.
  • Propane (common here): professionally installed and serviced. Know your tank's shutoff. Never use or store propane indoors, and no propane heaters in tents, campers, or RVs while sleeping.
  • Electricity: find the main breaker and teach the adults at home to shut it off.
  • Water: shut off the main after a quake to protect the water in your pipes and water heater.

Generators: outdoors only. Keep them at least 20 feet from doors and windows. Use a transfer switch, and never backfeed your panel. Install CO alarms.

3. Fire safety

  • Smoke and CO alarms on every level. Test monthly. Replace the units every 10 years.
  • Plan two ways out of every room, plan for anyone who needs help, and practice.
  • Keep an ABC extinguisher where everyone knows to find it. Remember PASS: Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep. Check it yearly.
  • Never heat with gas ovens, stoves, BBQs, or propane heaters indoors.
  • Create defensible space outside. See Wildfire smoke & heat.
  • North Kitsap Fire & Rescue offers fire extinguisher training and reflective address signs: 360-297-3619.

4. Shelter in place

When officials say to stay inside (smoke, volcanic ash, hazardous materials):

  1. Go inside right away Bring in kids and pets.
  2. Lock doors and windows
  3. Shut off fans, HVAC, and fireplace dampers
  4. Seal your pre-picked room Plastic and tape over windows and vents, damp towels under the door.
  5. Listen to official sources A battery radio works when the power is out.
  6. Air out the house afterward

For smoke days: set up a clean-air room with a DIY box-fan filter.