UTILITIES: Electricity

Electrocution can be a very real risk during emergencies, resulting from exposure to live wires or anything that might have been electrified by them. Know where the main electric switch is in your home; it may be a pull handle or large circuit breaker in your fuse box.

Make sure you shut off the electricity when:

• You smell burning material during a complete power outage.
  
• The area around electrical switches or plugs turns black or is hot.
  
• Burning occurs in electrical devices or large appliances.
  
• You smell burning insulation (sort of like hot cat urine or ammonia).
  • If it's loose fiberglass it shouldn't burn because it's glass, it will melt however and any odor would be the product of dirt/dust trapped in the fiber.
    
  • If it is paper wrapped fiberglass you will get the odor of burning paper with an oil overtone since most of the paper has a waterproof coating on the inside
    
  • If it's blown paper insulation you will get a strong paper odor because the mat will smolder a long time before it burns