Winter Fire Safety Tips
Flames can ignite inside a home at any time of year. Therefore, homeowners shouldn’t be surprised if they run into trouble during the spring, summer, or fall. However, many fires tend to break out in the winter months. This is because lots of people try to remain indoors to beat the frigid temperatures. Hence, one mistake is all it takes for a disaster to strike.
If flames erupt, you could find yourself in a world of trouble. For one, if things get out of control and the fire department doesn’t arrive promptly, your house might get destroyed. Additionally, if you or your family members fail to escape the building, injuries, and deaths may enter the picture.
Of course, not all fire outcomes are so dire. The flames could get extinguished, leaving you with a damaged home, and nobody sustains injuries or dies. In such a situation, you’d need to bring in a fire/smoke damage cleanup team, like Capital Property Recovery, to rid the structure of smells, soot, etc. But wouldn’t it be better to avoid fires in the first place if you could? The following tips may help you do just that.
Create A Fireplace Safety Zone
When cold temperatures arise, people enjoy starting fires in their fireplaces. This can help keep a single room or entire home warm. In addition, the flames can be nice to look at and create a cozy environment. However, if you aren’t careful, things could get out of hand in a hurry if embers catch combustibles nearby on fire. Create a safety zone of three foot or more around your fireplace. This should help prevent items like carpeting, papers, curtains, etc., from going up in flames.
Keep Things Away From Heaters
Many homeowners use space heaters to heat areas of their homes. They use them in bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms, and more. This usually works like a charm, but when people get careless, issues occur. All a person needs to do is turn on their local news in the wintertime to see this firsthand. There always seems to be a story about a house or apartment building catching fire because of a heater.
Tons of different scenarios could play out to make this happen. For example, a cover hanging off a bed might touch an electric space heater positioned to the bed, causing it to get too hot and ignite. Or what if a gas wall heater is in use in a bathroom and toilet paper gets too close? So, do yourself a favor and keep belongings, goods, and everything else away from your heaters.
Turn Space Heaters Off When Leaving Rooms
It is also a good idea to turn space heaters off whenever you leave a room. Imagine this. You go to the kitchen to make something to eat and leave your dog asleep in the other room. The next thing you know, they’ve jumped up, and their blanket lands on the heater. Then, in the blink of an eye, it ignites.
Don’t fret if you cannot prevent a fire from breaking out at your property. As mentioned, professional fire and smoke damage cleanup services are available. So, just call in a trustworthy company if a catastrophe strikes.
