Winter Home Safety Tips
Winter is the season of increased home safety related incidents. Fires caused by faulty holiday lights, chimney fires, and space heaters are on the rise every year. The biggest contributor to these safety issues is either improper use or faulty equipment.
Keep your home safe this winter
Check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Test them to ensure they work.
Chimney fires:
Most chimney fires are caused by creosote, which is a by-product resulting from the incomplete combustion or burning of wet wood. To prevent chimney fires take following precautions:
Have your wood burning chimney cleaned professionally once each year.
Always burn dry hard wood in your chimney. Never use construction wood scraps, treated woods or any sappy pines, which can contribute to the creosote buildup.
Make sure your fireplace has enough air supply. Lack of air supply can cause chimney fires due to creosote buildup. Make sure your damper is open, and once the fire is going, keep glass hearth doors open to encourage airflow.
Electrical fires:
Avoid overloading outlets. Plugging too many appliances into one extension cord can cause circuit breakers to trip. Breakers trip when wires overheat due to overload. Heated wires can lead to compromised insulation, short circuits, and fires.
Inspect your holiday decorations for dead and missing light bulbs and damaged wires. Don’t leave your outdoor decorations on for an excessive amount of time, and take them down soon after the holidays are over.
Flickering lights can be a sign of an electrical short and must be addressed as soon as possible. As a home owner, you should replace any flickering lights as soon as possible. If they are still flickering after replacement, this could be an indicator of a more serious problem, and you should call an electrician.
Using space heaters:
Don’t place space heaters within 3 feet of any flammable object.
Never use extension cords, and don’t plug more than one space heater in the same outlet or electrical circuit.
Never leave space heaters unattended, especially if they are gas-powered.
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