Home heating tips: Safety advice for winter nights

By Kendra Simpson

With colder weather arriving, St. Joseph residents will be putting their fireplaces, space heaters and radiators to use, but no one wants their holidays going up in smoke.

Home fires occur more in winter months than any other time of the year, but by following a few safety practices, people can be sure to enjoy a warm winter’s night without an accidental fire.

“This is just the time of the year when as it gets colder, the heat comes on and so you just want to make sure that your equipment is ready and safe,” St. Joseph Fire Department Emergency Management Manager Bill Lamar said.

Before the winter months set in, home owners should have their heating equipment, such as their HVAC system, checked to ensure everything is in working order. Along with this, those with fireplaces should make sure to have their chimney inspected and cleaned by a professional at least once a year.

One of the easiest steps in preventing a home fire is ensuring that anything flammable, such as bedding, clothing and curtains, are at least three feet away from any space heater. Individuals should also make sure that their space heater has an automatic shut-off, so that if it tips over it will immediately turn off. Plugging in any heating device into an extension cord is strongly discouraged.

“We see a lot of house fires where folks have used a space heater. Things get overloaded, cords get too hot and start to fire,” Lamar said. “So you really want to avoid any type of extension cords or allowing anything that’s combustible close to anything that gets hot.”

For home owners with fireplaces, be sure to keep a glass or metal screen in front of it at all times to prevent embers or sparks from jumping out. The fireplace should never be on if the owner is asleep or away from of the home.

Like the space heater, wood burning stoves should be kept at least three feet away from anything that could be flammable and should also be turned off before going to sleep or leaving the home. If using a stovetop for a heat source, home owners should ensure a carbon monoxide detector is nearby and in working order.

While heating devices cause several house fires during the winter months, lit candles are another common source of fires in St. Joseph.

“It’s a really busy time of the season for everybody,” Lamar said. “They might leave and forget to shut down their wood stove, or they might have something that’s too close to their equipment and it gets too hot and catches fire.”

Whether rushing out the door for holiday celebrations, or tucking in for a long winter’s nap, St. Joseph residents should always take the few extra seconds to ensure their home and family are safe from house fires.