There is nothing like decorating your home for the holidays with fragrant candles, colorful lights, and festive bows and ribbons. However, many of these items are potential causes for fires. Now is the time of year to take steps to protect your family with some holiday fire safety. Read on for our fire safety tips that can give you peace of mind this holiday season.
Holiday Candles and Fire Prevention
Fragrant candles can add a festive flare to a room, but take precautions to avert a fire. Make sure that your candle is placed on a heat resistant base and never leave your candle burning when you are not in the room. Keep your candles high up where children cannot reach, and do not, under any circumstances, leave your home without extinguishing your candles. One unattended candle can cause terrible damage and, at the very least, ruin your holidays.
Lighting and Holiday Fire Safety
Holiday lights and lighted trees add a celebratory cheer to your home, but use these fire prevention tips to keep your family and you’re home safe. Check all electric plug-ins and extension cords. Make certain the plug-in has a place for a ground wire. Check the extension cord for splits in the wire. If you live in one of the many older homes in Grass Valley and Nevada City, know how much power you can get per room. You don’t want to overrun the outlets and cause an outage or fire.
- Never run extension cords under a rug.
- Do not overload extension cords. Don’t make long daisy chains of extension cords and power strips to try and reach from the outlet to your lights.
- Equip your home with a fire extinguisher.
- If you plan on using your lights outdoors, make sure the lights you are using are rated for outdoors.
Fireplace Safety
Gathering with friends and family around the fireplace can keep you cozy. Be sure to have your fireplace cleaned and inspected every year to avoid disasters and keep your family safe. Do not dispose of Christmas wrapping by burning it in your fireplace. Keep the fireplace full of wood and kindling.
If you have a live tree, water it often to preserve the pine needles — this is especially important if your tree is located close to the fireplace or wood stove. As beautiful as your tree may be, remember pine needles are very flammable. Many deadly fires have been caused by family Christmas trees with lights that are plugged into defective wiring or trees that are dried out. If possible, have your tree as far away from the fireplace as possible. Regularly clean up any fallen pine needles to help decrease your fire risk.
Oven Fire Safety
Christmas cookies and other holiday treats are great this time of year, but watch out for burns and keep all plastic away from the oven heat — burning plastic is toxic. Make sure that you set a timer for whatever is in the oven, and turn off the oven when you are done. You don’t want to have burned food in your oven or stinking up your home.
By taking these precautions, you can enjoy the holidays and celebrate with family and friends worry free!
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