Holiday Fire Safety Tips

Winter is on the way, so most of us have turned on our heat at home. However, heating equipment — especially portable space heaters, fireplaces and wood stoves — require careful use to prevent a fire. Each holiday season, there are thousands of kitchen and home fires in America, resulting in more than 400 deaths just last year. Here are some tips to prevent one in your home:

• If you're using a new portable space heater read the label to make sure it is safety tested. Place space heaters a safe distance from anything that can burn, such as curtains, pillows, or fabric furniture.
• Keep an eye on the stove top with BOTH electric and gas burners and, if you plan to use your fireplace this winter, have it inspected. Creosote can build up from previous years’ fires, and can cause chimney fires, so it’s worth having a professional inspect your fireplace and chimney for the holidays and cold winter season. Creosote logs may help prevent further buildup, but they won’t work on one or two year old chimney dirt and soot.
• Fireplaces and wood stoves work best when we burn seasoned hardwood, like oak, ash or maple. Don’t burn trash, cardboard boxes or Christmas trees because they burn very hot and unevenly, and contain potential poisons that can be carried into your home, where they could contribute to a home fire.
• When you have a blaze in the fireplace, or a space heater to warm a chilly corner, remember to have an adult in the room at all times. This is especially true when there are young children playing nearby.
• Use sturdy screens, or glass doors, to keep embers inside fireplaces and young children and pets away from an enticing fireplace. Also, check the flue lever, and open your flue before lighting a fire.
• Install at least one smoke alarm on every level of your home, especially near your family’s bedrooms. Remember to change the batteries on existing alarms and think about putting another unit at the top of a staircase, or at the entrance to your home’s sleeping areas.
• Contact your local fire station, if you have questions about home fire safety.

Fire safety tips provided by Servpro of Scarsdale / Mount Vernon, fire, water and mold remediation, (914) 699-5181 www.servprosmv.com , 24 hour emergency services