In honor of fire prevention month, fire experts are offering lifesaving advice.

According to statistics, fire departments nationwide responded to 1.35 million fires in the last year. A large portion of those cases are structural fires inside residential homes.

Experts recommend families have a working smoke and carbon monoxide detector in their homes. Batteries for the devices should be replaced every six months.

Household fire extinguishers are helpful for situations like small kitchen fires.

In the event of a house fire, it is crucial to close doors when evaluating to prevent smoke and flames from travelling further.

Earlier this year, the New York City Council passed a legislative package that requires residential buildings to have self-closing doors. This is in order to prevent tragedies like Jan. 9 Twin Parks, which killed 17 Bronx residents.

Experts also urge families to create and practice fire escape plans.

"The exit plan needs to be practiced, get the whole family together, couple of times a year, review the plan, pretend as if you're sleeping. Then make a noise and have everybody go through the paces of the exit plan. Knowing that plan ahead of time, it sort of becomes muscle memory,” said John D'Alessandro of the New York Firefighters Association.

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