Fire Safety Tips During Christmas Season By Melanie Smith At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

The USFA announces that fires happening during Christmas holidays claim the lives of more than 400 people, harms more than 1,650, and cause more than $990 million of property damage every year. To secure our homes from this unfortunate event, you can be certain to enjoy a safe and joyous holiday.

Christmas Decors

* If you are using an artificial Christmas tree, make sure to use the flame resistant ones.
* Never use combustible Christmas ornaments.
* Make sure to keep away Christmas ornaments from heat vents or other hot sources.
* Keep away from burning wrappers in fireplace since they tend to burn quick and emit sparks that may possibly start a chimney fire.

Care for our Christmas Trees

Christmas trees when caught on fire may fill a room with fire rapidly and emits harmful toxic substances. Make sure take the necessary precaution whenever you bring a live tree inside your home.

* Selecting the tree: Pine needles should still be in green color and not easily pulled off from its branches. Avoid tree trunks that are dry. Make sure to pick one that is still sticky from sap. In selecting a tree, make it stand and bounce it from the ground, or shake the tree. If you needles falling off, then it means it is too dry and should never be bought.

* Care for the tree: Avoid putting up a tree next to a heat source, for instance a fireplace or a heat vent. The heat will drain the tree of its moisture making it dry and a danger for fire. Make sure to keep the tree watered. Avoid keeping a Christmas tree in your home for more than two weeks.

* Disposing the Christmas tree. In disposing the Christmas tree, never burn it in a fireplace or a woodstove. It is best to take it to a recycling center, where they could use a wood chipper to run through the tree. In this way, you can pick up some wood chips that you can use for landscaping at home.

Christmas Lights

* Before installing Christmas lights, make sure to check for cracked or frayed wires, busted light sockets or bends in the wires. Christmas lights can be bought cheap and so its life expectancy doesn’t usually lasts long. When unsure of its quality or its function, dispose the old and buy new ones.

* Avoid overloading electrical outlets. Have all your string of lights connected to a durable extension cord before plugging it into the electrical outlet. As soon as it is plugged, leave it for a couple of minutes and check afterwards if the cords or plugs are warm. Should it feel warm unplug them immediately and change outlets. Always remember that plugs and cords were not supposed to be warm.

* Never leave your Christmas lights unattended. I appreciate people who put up those electric candles on their windows. It is certainly lovely to look at. However, if the candles caught those curtains on fire then it could burn the whole house. A lot of houses were burned down every year because of mishandling these lights. So be mindful to take precaution.

The use of candles

* Candles sure look pretty to look at when lit, However, mishandling them or leaving them be may prove a great risk. So, make sure never to leave a lighted candle without somebody watching over it.

* Use stable candle holders when lighting candles and put them in places where young children could keep from reaching them. Also, make sure to place the candles where it could not be easily knocked off.

* Never place a lit candle on a Christmas tree, as this is sure to ignite flames.

* Put off candles whenever you leave the house.

Lastly, install smoke alarms on every level of the house. Make sure to test them once every month to ensure they are working and be certain to have new batteries in store in case the old one runs out. Have a joyous and a fire free Christmas to all of us!

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