Holiday Fire Safety Tips
 This Newsletter is my way of sharing information helpful to keeping you and your family safe, informed, empowered or entertained. John Bisnar |
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The lights and candles and parties where people drink and smoke
that make Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year's Eve festive
also create special risks of home fires. Take steps to make sure
your home is fire safe for the holidays.
- Use flame-retardant or non-combustible materials for costumes and decorations.
- Provide smokers with large, deep, non-tip ashtrays, and keep an eye on anyone who is drinking and smoking.
- Empty ashtrays often and wet their contents before dumping them.
- After the party, check cushions and furniture for smoldering cigarette butts. Supervise children and keep them away from matches, lighters and candles.
- Use lights that bear the UL label.
- Throw away sets of lights that have cracked or frayed cords or loose or damaged sockets.
- Don't overload electrical outlets or run extension cords under carpets, across doorways, or near heaters.
- Be sure extension cords aren't pinched behind or under furniture, and unplug all decorative lights before leaving your home or going to bed.
- Never use electric lights on a metal Christmas tree.
- Put candles securely in non-tip candleholders.
- Keep candles well away from Christmas trees, decorations, curtains, and other combustibles, and never put candles in windows or near exits.
- Don't leave candles burning unattended or within the reach of small children, and blow them out before you leave the room or go to sleep.
- Cut your own tree or buy a fresh one that's not shedding its needles.
- Cut the trunk at an angle and install the tree in a large, deep non-tip stand well away from fireplaces, exits, and heat sources.
- Be sure your tree has a constant supply of water and check the level daily.
- If your tree dries out, remove it promptly and store it away from your home until you can dispose of it.
- If you use an artificial tree, be sure it's flame-retardant.
- Keep all space heaters and portable heaters at least 3 feet away from anything that can burn such as newspapers, furniture, and even walls.
- Use the right fuel for liquid-fuel heaters, be sure they are vented properly, and refill them when they're cool, in well-ventilated areas.
- Have furnace installations and all chimneys inspected once a year (before heating season begins) and cleaned as appropriate or whenever you suspect a problem.
- Keep fireplace fires small, and use a fireplace screen or doors to prevent sparks from flying into the room.
- Don't leave children alone in a room with a fireplace fire. Never burn trash or paper in a fireplace.
- Remove ashes in a metal container and don't store ashes indoors.
- Make absolutely sure that hot ashes have completely cooled or are soaking wet before disposing into other refuse.
- The fireworks that mark the celebrations of the Forth of July, Chinese New Year, New Year's Eve, and Mardi Gras are dangerous explosive devises that should never be used by amateurs.
- Each year thousands of people (many of them children) are burned, blinded, even disfigured by fireworks.
- The lesson is simple, leave fireworks to the professionals. Teach kids to tell an adult if they find fireworks. It's too risky to pick them up - especially if they're smoking, charred, or appears to have been lit. Sparklers may seem harmless, but they aren't toys. A burning sparkler can reach temperatures of 1200 degrees and stay hot long after it's burned out.
- Make sure you have working smoke detectors on every level of your home.
- Develop and practice a home escape plan that includes two exits from every room and a meeting place outside of your home.
If you have important information, or an empowering or funny story that you would like to share with my readers please email it directly to me at: jbisnar@bestattorney.com.
--John Bisnar, Bisnar and Chase, LLP.
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Look for more important safety information coming in 2003!
Happy Holidays to you all!
