Sadly, house fires are all-too-common during the holiday season. Don’t let the rush to check off your holiday to-do list distract you and make you forget fire safety procedures. Keep your loved ones safe and avoid holiday fire hazards by following these tips.

Maintain Heating Sources

Nothing beats settling into a warm home on a chilly winter night. Whether you are lighting a fire in the fireplace, turning the thermostat up or using other heat sources, put safety first by:

• Having your home’s heating system inspected. If you have not already had an HVAC tech come by for a maintenance visit, now is the time to schedule it. Your technician will clean important elements and perform general maintenance to ensure the system will operate safely and efficiently.

• Using space heaters cautiously. Never leave these unattended and place them three feet, at minimum, away from flammable materials. To avoid needing space heaters, consider upgrading to an HVAC zoning system. This allows you the freedom to direct more heat to certain zones of the home, as needed, without wasting heat in other rooms.

• Practicing fireplace safety. This includes having your fireplace and chimney cleaned and inspected, using a spark screen, keeping flammable materials several feet away, and burning only fireplace-safe logs rather than paper or other materials.

Care for Decorations

Dry Christmas trees catch fire very easily. Make sure to keep your tree well-watered and away from fireplaces, heaters, candles, or other heat sources.

Use candles wisely. If you want the cheerful glow of candlelight without the fire risk, use flameless LED candles. If you do choose real candles, burn them on a heatproof surface away from flammable materials and out of the reach of children or pets. Never leave candles burning in unoccupied rooms, and keep a fire extinguisher handy, just in case.

Check your Smoke Alarms

Take this time to double-check all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. These should be installed on each level of the home, and you should test them every month.

For more tips for preventing holiday fire hazards, please contact us today at Powers Heating & Air.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Peachtree City, Georgia and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 770-487-2040.