It’s the holiday season, there’s some snow, or ice, or rain, or it’s just plain ol’ cold outside and you’re sitting comfy in your home. You’re snuggled up in a nice soft blanket and sipping on some hot coco. After all, it’s cold outside. The last thing on your mind is a fire starting inside or outside your home. Unfortunately, fire safety doesn’t take any time off during the holidays. Here’s some quick tips to help you prevent a fire during this holiday season!
- If you’re planning on starting up that fireplace, you’re going to need to take a few steps before you light it up. First, if your fireplace has glass doors, open them up about 20 minutes before you light it up. With the doors open, the air can warm up and begin to draft upwards. Second, check the draft using a match. If air is going down your flue you should NOT start your fire.
- Decorations are flammable. Shocking, I know. So, before you plug in anything, be sure there aren’t any flays in the cords, and that they’re not next to a space heater or stove top.
- Double check that space heater. Space heaters generally need to be about 3 feet away from anything that could be flammable. This includes your furniture, rugs, bedding, couch, chairs, pretty much anything. Also, don’t plug it into a power strip or extension cord; if you have to, ensure that the cord is properly rated and sized for your heater.
- Did you buy a deep fryer for your turkey this year? If so, you’re going to need to go through a pretty hefty checklist to make sure you’re not going to start a fire, or hurt yourself. Butterball has a pretty great guide on this.
Even though a home fire may seem out of the possibility, that it could never happen to you, it is always important to be both vigilant and prepared.