How To Prevent Holiday Home Fires

It's unfortunate, but the holiday season often brings a significant spike in home fires.  The American Red Cross urges people to take extra precautions with cooking and decorating at this time of year to help prevent fires.

“Cooking is the leading cause of home fires, and as people are cooking, entertaining, and stringing lights this holiday season, we’re urging that they take safety measures to ensure that their homes and loved ones are safe from the threat of fire,” says Phil Hansen, Regional Chapter Executive of the American Red Cross Northern Minnesota Region.

Christmas Day, Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving are the top three days for cooking fires, according to the National Fire Prevention Association. Nationally, the Red Cross responds to a disaster on average every eight minutes, and the vast majority of them are home fires.

Here are some tips to help prevent home fires around the holidays.

Holiday Entertaining

• Test your smoke alarms.
• Check food regularly while cooking and remain in the home while cooking. Use a timer as a reminder that the stove or oven is on.
• Enforce a “kid-free zone” in the cooking area and make children stay at least three feet away from the stove.
• Keep anything that can catch fire away from the stove, oven or any appliance in the kitchen that generates heat.
• Clean cooking surfaces on a regular basis to prevent grease buildup.
• Purchase a fire extinguisher to keep in the kitchen. Contact the local fire department to receive training on the proper use of extinguishers.

 Holiday Decorating

• Choose decorations that are flame resistant or flame retardant.
• Keep children, pets and decorations away from lit candles.
• Keep matches and lighters up high in a locked cabinet.
• Replace any string of lights with worn or broken cords or loose bulb connections. Connect no more than three strands of mini light sets and a maximum of 50 bulbs for screw-in bulbs. Read manufacturer’s instructions for the number of LED strands to connect. Some strings of lights are only for indoor or outdoor use, but not both.
• Use clips, not nails, to hang lights so the cords do not get damaged.
• Keep decorations away from windows and doors.