Winter puts more heat and more fuel into the same rooms. The heat comes from space heaters, fireplaces, and candles. The fuel comes from dry trees, wrapping paper, decorations, and coats piled by the door. Add a few extra cords and an outlet doing more than it should, and you have the kind of setup where a small mistake turns into a fire.
Most of what keeps that from happening is common sense, but it's the kind that's easy to forget in a busy season. Here's what to watch, at home and at work.
Space heaters
Keep a space heater at least three feet from anything that can burn, like curtains, bedding, paper, and boxes. Plug it straight into the wall, not into an extension cord or a power strip. Turn it off when you leave the room or go to bed. At work, the heater to watch is the one under a desk or in a back office, because it gets forgotten when everybody heads home.
Trees and decorations
A real tree dries out fast once it's inside. Keep it watered, keep it away from heaters, vents, and the fireplace, and get it out of the building once it starts dropping needles. An artificial tree should be labeled fire-resistant.
Look over your lights before they go up. Frayed cords, cracked sockets, and loose bulbs go in the trash, not on the mantel. Don't plug more strands together than the box says you can, and don't run cords under rugs or through doorways where they get pinched. Turn the lights off when you leave or go to bed.
In a store, a church, or an office, decorations have one more rule. They can't block an exit, an exit sign, a fire alarm pull station, or a fire extinguisher. It's easy to set a display or a stack of boxes right in front of one without noticing.
Candles
Keep candles away from anything that can catch, set them where kids and pets can't knock them over, and blow them out when you leave the room. Battery candles look about the same and take the risk away.
Fireplaces and wood stoves
Have the chimney cleaned and checked before the season starts, use a screen, and keep the area in front of the fireplace clear. Put ashes in a metal can with a lid and set it outside, away from the house, because ashes can stay hot for days.
Holiday cooking
Holiday cooking means more people in the kitchen and more going on at once. Stay with the stove while it's on. If a pan catches, put a lid on it and turn off the burner. Never throw water on grease.
Before company comes
Test your smoke alarms. Then check your fire extinguisher. It should be hanging where you can reach it, the gauge should be in the green, and the pin and seal should be in place. Make sure the doors aren't blocked by boxes or coats, and that everybody in the house knows two ways out.
If something catches
Get people out first and call 911. Only fight a fire if it's small, you have the right extinguisher, and you have a clear way out behind you. If it's growing, or you're not sure, leave, close the door behind you, and don't go back in for anything. We go over the steps in the 3 A's.
At work
If you run a business, a church, or a school, winter is a good time to walk the building with fresh eyes. Check that the exits are clear, the exit signs are lit, the emergency lights come on when you push the test button, and the extinguishers are charged and hanging where they belong. Our fire marshal inspection checklist has the full list.
We inspect and service fire extinguishers, fire alarms, and exit and emergency lights. Call 1-800-348-9604 if you want somebody to walk it with you.