This Friday, October 31st children and adults will be celebrating the Halloween festivities. Some adults will be supervising their children’s Trick-or-Treat activities, others will be at costume parties and social establishments, and everybody will be out and about after dark. The intent of this holiday is to have fun whatever it is you are doing; however, ensuring your safety takes an elevated level of precaution on this particular night. The Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) encourages Trick-or-Treat chaperones to practice the “SAFE HALLOWEEN” tips in addition to providing safety tips for those expecting Trick-or-Treaters or party guests at their home. These can be found at the CDC website @ http://www.cdc.gov/family/halloween/ Another great resource for Halloween safety can be found in this 2-minute video created by Safe Kids Worldwide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SniBFAI2e64
Even if you are not participating in the festivities you can contribute to the safety and well-being of others by driving slower than normal in residential neighborhoods, avoiding distractions in the car like eating or talking on the phone, and merely sustaining a heightened level of ‘driver’s awareness’ for pedestrians and other distracted drivers.
In addition to this being Halloween weekend, it is also the time of year to change your clocks and your batteries. As a reminder, every 6 months (approx.) in accordance with the time changes (Spring & Fall) the UCI Police Department encourages everybody change out the batteries in all smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in the home. These devices save lives and it is important that they are powered with a fresh source of energy whenever we ‘Spring Forward’ & ‘Fall Back’. A comprehensive list of tips related to smoke detector preparedness can be found below:
• Have smoke alarms on every level in your home, especially outside sleeping area and preferably inside bedrooms as well.
• Test them at least once a month, and replace batteries when you change your clocks twice per year,
• Replace all detectors after 10 years.
• Place smoke alarms according to manufacturer’s directions.
• Clean the outside ONLY of a smoke alarm by gently going over the cover with the brush attachment of your vacuum cleaner. Never paint a smoke alarm.
• Whenever a smoke alarm beeps take it seriously. It might just be a false alarm from cooking, temperature changes, or dust-but you can’t afford to ignore the alert. Everyone in the family needs to react immediately.
• Develop and practice a home escape plan. Make sure your family knows two ways out of each room, a safe meeting place outside, how to call 9-1-1 once they’re out, and why they should NEVER go back in to a burning house.
Another ‘Fall Back’ practice we encourage of all of our students, staff & faculty is to review & update your family’s emergency plan and your emergency supplies/go kits. This is important because contact information changes and many supplies with an expiration date become perishable over time such as food, water, medication, etc. An outdated plan or kit could defeat the purpose of preparing these items in the first place so remember to keep these items current with the time change.
We encourage the community to partner with the UC Irvine Police Department to prevent or report crime by calling (949) 824-5223. If you wish to remain Anonymous, call “OC Crime Stoppers” by dialing 855-TIP-OCCS (855-847-6227), text "OCCS" plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or use the website http://occrimestoppers.org/
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UC Irvine Police Department
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