The island winter-ready home checklist
Storms, power cuts and the occasional late barge. A simple room-by-room list to get your home ready before November.
Winter on an island means strong winds, long nights and the occasional delay on the barge that brings most of what we buy. The good news is that a ready home takes one weekend. Work through it room by room.
Kitchen
Most home fires start in the kitchen. Hang a fire blanket by the stove and keep a rated extinguisher where you can reach it on the way out of the room, not under the sink behind the cleaning supplies.
Bedrooms and hallways
Test every smoke alarm and replace any that are more than ten years old. Interconnected alarms mean everyone hears the warning, wherever it starts. Upstairs bedrooms need a second way out, so store an escape ladder by the window.
First Alert Hardwire Smoke Alarm$74.25
Kidde Fire Escape Ladder$53.99
Electrical Fire Prevention Sensor$99.00Living room
Use space heaters with tip-over and overheat shutoff, keep them three feet from curtains and couches, and never run them on an extension cord.
Doors and windows
Stick-on door and window alarms are a cheap way to know when a door blows open in a storm or a window is left unlatched.
From the crew at Media Market Sale, 5145 Shoreline Dr, Ketchikan.
