By Citizens Insurance
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Home fire safety precautions are important year-round, but did you know, half of all home heating fires occur in December, January, and February? No matter how you heat your home, be extra cautious in the winter months. These simple safety tips can help prevent heating fires and ensure you’ll stay warm and cozy.
Tips to remember
Make sure to keep flammable items at least three feet from all heat sources including fireplaces, space heaters, wood stoves, radiators, and candles. Furnaces and chimneys should be inspected by a professional every year and you should never use an oven as a heating source.
Fireplace safety
Keep a metal screen or glass partition in front of the fireplace to prevent sparks from flying out into the room.
Put the fire out before you go to sleep or leave your home.
Remove and store ashes in a metal container with a lid outside, at least three feet away from your home.
Space heater safety
Space heaters are the source most often involved in home heating equipment fires.
Make sure your space heater shuts off automatically, in case it falls over.
Plug it directly into a wall outlet, not an extension cord or power strip.
Turn it off before going to sleep or leaving the room.
Never leave a space heater running when you aren’t home.
Woodstove safety
Place your stove on a noncombustible, fire-resistant base.
Do not burn paper. Only burn dry wood.
Never use flammable fluids to start the fire.
Put the fire out before you go to sleep or leave your home.
No one wants to imagine their house catching on fire or the consequences that follow, but it can happen if you aren’t careful with how you heat your home. Home fires caused by heating equipment account for about 15% of all reported home fires every year. Follow these safety tips listed above to help reduce the chances of heating equipment causing a fire.
Talk to your independent insurance agent about our home coverage options in order to protect your home from the event of a fire. As a reminder, it’s always important to understand the difference between your home’s market value and its replacement cost to ensure you have the proper coverage and limits in place.
Sources
National Fire Protection Association Heating Safety Tip Sheet
U.S. Fire Administration Heating Fire Safety
Insurance Information Institute Wood Stove Safety
National Fire Protection Association
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