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PUT A FREEZE ON WINTER FIRE
Dan Freitag • December 15, 2014
PUT A FREEZE ON WINTER FIRES
Facts and figures
Holiday decorations
- On average, one of every 40 reported home fires that began with a Christmas tree resulted in a death, compared to an average of one death per 142 total reported home fires.
- Electrical problems were factors in one-third (32%) of home Christmas tree structure fires.
- The decoration was too close to heat source in nearly half (47%) of the fires.
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Candles started 41% of home decoration structure fires.
Source: NFPA Fire Analysis and Resrch Division
Heating
- Space heaters, whether portable or stationary, accounted for one-third (33%) of home heating fires and four out of five (81%) of home heating fire deaths.
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The leading factor contributing to home heating fires (28%) was failure to clean, principally creosote from solid-fueled heating equipment, primarily chimneys.
Source: NFPA’s “ Home Fires Involving Heating Equipment ” report.
Holiday decorations
Use care when decorating your home this holiday season. Nearly half of holiday decoration fires happen because decorations are placed too close to a heat source, while two out of every five home decoration fires are started by candles.
- NFPA report: Home Christmas Tree and Holiday Light Fires
- NFPA report: Home Structure Fires That Began with Decorations
- Statistics: Christmas tree and holiday light fires (PDF, 51 KB)
- Christmas tree fire safety tips
- Electrical issues
Candles
The top three days for home candle fires are Christmas, New Year’s Day and Christmas Eve.
- NFPA report: Home Candle Fires
- Statistics: Home candle fires (PDF, 59 KB)
- Candle fire safety tips
Heating
Keep fire safety in mind when heating your home in the winter months ahead. December, January and February are the leading months for home heating fires. Overall, heating equipment is the second leading cause of U.S. home fires and home fire deaths.
- NFPA report: Home Fires Involving Heating Equipment
- Ten tips to get ahead of the winter freeze (PDF, 352 KB)
- Heating fact sheet (free tip sheet)
- Portable fireplaces fact sheet (free tip sheet)
- Sparky® has a heating safety checklist for kids (PDF, 519 KB).
- Free toolkit: resources for a community heating safety campaign
Holiday cooking
Did you know that Thanksgiving is the leading day for cooking fires? In fact, there are three times as many fires on Thanksgiving Day as any other typical day of the year.
- NFPA report: Home Fires Involving Cooking Equipment
- Cooking fire fact sheet (free tip sheet)
- Thanksgiving fire fact sheet (free tip sheet)
- NFPA discourages the use of turkey fryers that immerse the turkey in hot oil.
- Download NFPA’s cooking infographic
(PDF, 398 KB) for you to use on your website, blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
- Free toolkit:
resources for a community cooking safety campaign.
The post PUT A FREEZE ON WINTER FIRE appeared first on A to Z Fire Tampa Bay.
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