Home Heating Fires Can Be Deadly—Prevent One in Your Home

2/21/2020 (Permalink)

Home heating fires can be deadly! Stay comfortable and safe by following our home heating safety advice.

Each year across our country, there are more than 50,000 home fires caused by heating equipment, accounting for roughly 15% of all reported home fires. Worse, these heating fires cause $1 billion of annual property damage. Worst yet, almost 500 people die from home heating fires each year.

Clearly, a home heating fire can destroy your home and property, and put the lives of your family at grave risk. Stay safe by following our basic heating safety tips to help prevent heating fires while you and your family stay warm.

General Heating Safety

• Keep flammable items at least three feet from space heaters, fireplaces, wood stoves, radiators and candles. (By far, the most common cause of heating fires is combustible material being too close to the heat source.)
• Never use your oven to heat your home.
• Hire professionals to inspect, clean and maintain your fireplace, wood stove, chimney and furnace every year.

Space Heater Safety

Space heaters are the most common source of home heating fires. They cause 85% of deaths and almost 80% of injuries. Space heaters may be convenient, but please take extra caution when you use them!

• Keep a three-foot clear area around the space heater at all times. Be vigilant about keeping children and pets away from the heater.
• Turn the heater off when you leave the room, go to sleep or leave your home.
• Buy a space heater that senses overheating or tipping and shuts off automatically.
• Plug the heater directly into a wall outlet rather than an extension cord or power strip.
• Never run the cord under a carpet.
• Never operate the heater if the cord, plug or the heater itself is damaged.
• Place the heater on a stable, level surface and not in a highly-trafficked area, such as a doorway.
• If you have a fuel-burning space heater, always use the correct kind of fuel.

Fireplace Safety

• Keep sparks from flying into the room by placing a sturdy metal screen or glass partition in front of your fireplace.
• Keep a bucket of sand near the fireplace to smother a fire.
• Put the fire out completely before you go to sleep or leave your home.
• Let the ashes cool completely (for three or more hours), then shovel them into a metal container with a lid and cover the ashes with water. Bring the container outside and place it at least three feet away from your home or garage.

Wood Stove Safety

• Place your stove on a level noncombustible, fire-resistant base.
• Burn dry wood, not paper.
• Never use flammable fluids to start the fire.
• Put the fire out before you go to sleep or leave your home.

When you have suffered a fire or other disaster at your home or business, call SERVPRO of Bloomfield/Enfield at 860-216-2785

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When you have suffered a fire or other disaster at your home or business, call SERVPRO of Bloomfield/Enfield at 860-216-2785