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Every winter, the number of fire hazards in the home increases. Christmas trees covered in lights, space heaters, and wood stoves are only a few of the dangers that exist in households, and everyone needs to take precautions to ensure safety. KSMU’s Samuel Crowe spoke with two local fire departments, and has this report.
Randy Villines is the Assistant Fire Chief in Springfield. He says house and apartment fires are especially common during the winter.
“Using space heaters, fire places, wood stoves, furnaces…there are approximately 50,000 heating fires nationally. That’s quite a few,” Villines said.
Villines stresses that people need to stay mindful of all the hazards in their homes during the holiday months. He says space heaters need to be kept clear of any items that could burn, and recommends turning them off when you are out of the house. He says it’s a good idea to avoid using power cords with multiple plug-ins, so that electrical outputs aren’t overloaded. He also advises paying a professional to clean out your chimney once a year to avoid a chemical logjam. That can easily lead to a flue fire.
“You will build up what’s known as creosote in the lining of those chimneys, and at some point that creosote will ignite. So if you don’t have that chimney cleaned every year you can get a creosote buildup and end up with a flue fire, and if it gets hot enough to crack your flues, or depending on how it was designed, the fire could escape into the walls of your home, or behind the mantle of your fireplaces,” Villines said.
Bryan Newberry, Fire Chief of the city of Battlefield, says avoiding danger starts with taking care of your smoke alarms.
“Probably the most important thing is that you want to make sure your smoke alarms are working, and that they’re tested. That’s one of the most important statistics out there is the fact that almost two thirds of home fire deaths result from fires in homes with no smoke alarms, or no working smoke alarms. Children under five years old are almost one and a half times more likely to die in a home fire as the average person,” Newberry said.
Both fire experts say it’s paying attention to the little things that will ensure your winter remains free of any household fires. Keeping a close eye on food cooking in the kitchen, frequently watering your Christmas tree, and properly disposing of cigarettes are some small and easy ways to stay safe. For KSMU News, I’m Samuel Crowe.