Transcripts

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.