Mike Carruthers:
The holiday season is also house fire season; candles, unattended
cooking and, of course, Christmas trees. Frank
McCluskey:
It’s interesting. If you just take any Christmas tree - you’re
walking past it and run your hand along the branches. If the
needles come off, that’s an unsafe tree to have in your house.
Volunteer
firefighter Frank McCluskey, author of the book, Thoughts
on Fire.
When
you get a Christmas tree, bounce it on the ground, if the needles
come off, it’s not a good tree.
If you’re
going to put it in water, make sure it stays watered, and don’t
leave a tree in your house for more than 2 weeks. Never use
live candles on a tree and the lights you use around the tree;
make sure you feel the cord going to the electric circuit to
make sure that’s not hot. Christmas tree fires account for a
great number of deaths.
And another big cause
of house fires this time of year – chimneys.
I
have been to many, many chimney fires where houses caught on
fire or chimneys have burned down and a lot of damage is done.
And I’ve never been to one that had the chimney cleaned that
year. In other words, a professional chimney sweep is the best
investment you can make in your house if you use your fireplace
a lot.
And
because the risk of house fire is so high this time of year,
Frank says make sure that your smoke detectors work and the
batteries are fresh.
In
70% of all fire fatalities in the United States, there is either
no smoke detectors or the batteries are missing in the smoke
detectors.
It’s
a very, very important thing to change your batteries at least
twice a year. Another thing about smoke detectors that people
do is they take the batteries out because when they cook in
the kitchen or take a shower, the smoke detector goes off. So
they just take the batteries out and leave them out. If that
happens, make sure you move the smoke detector because it’s
really something that saves lives.
At
SomethingYouShouldKnow.net, I’m Mike Carruthers, and
that’s Something You Should Know. |
