17 Tips On How To Prevent House Fires This Holiday Season

The end of the year is unofficially considered the season to be jolly. But it's also the season of raging fires — around 156,000 of them (per the U.S. Fire Administration). Surprisingly, 47,000 of them are classified as residential fires. These unfortunate incidents claim 530 lives, harm 2,200 people, and cause $554 million worth of damage to property. The reason is simple. Holiday decorations, like garlands, trees, lights, candles, and displays are a spark away from catching fire and engulfing your home. The good news is you can prevent house fires if you follow a few simple tips, like keeping your burning scented candles away from clothes and decorations.

If you're a fan of displaying a real conifer in your living or family room, another simple way to keep the branches from igniting is to invest in a fresh tree. However, all your planning will be for naught if you're careless with open flames, like matches. So, encourage your guests to smoke outdoors and put out the lit matches and cigarettes properly to keep fire hazards to a minimum. This is why you should also be careful in the kitchen. Moreover, maintain an eye on your children and lock away lighters and matches. Interested in learning more? Here are 17 tips you must follow to prevent house fires this holiday season. That said, keep your local fire department's number handy to minimize damage in adverse situations.

Christmas trees are a holiday season staple. But they can also cause holiday fires and engulf your home in flames within a few seconds. So, when buying a live tree, always buy one that's in pristine condition and doesn't have a lot of broken needles. Moreover, don't let the tree dry since dry needles and bark are more flammable than moist ones. Cut 2 inches from the trunk's bottom, place it in a sturdy stand, and water it daily or every few days when the reservoir gets empty. Follow this simple tip to prolong the life of your real Christmas tree.

Choosing a fresh tree and keeping it hydrated will be for naught if you place it near a roaring fireplace. Pay attention to your tree's placement and keep it away from potential sources that give off huge amounts of heat, including fireplaces, heating vents, radiators, portable heaters, and candles. In case you can't steer clear of them entirely, maintain a gap of at least 1 to 3 feet between the tree and the heat source. Moreover, ensure the tree isn't blocking off any entrances or exits. You also want to dispose of your dried trees to minimize fire hazards.

Faux trees are a great alternative to real ones since they require minimal maintenance and can be used for years on end. Plus, you can employ a few clever ways to make your artificial Christmas tree look more realistic. And while they aren't as combustible as real trees that dry out, they aren't completely safe. To minimize accidents during holiday celebrations, ensure you pick a tree with flame-retardant coating. However, the coating wears off within two or three years, so reapplying a coat will ascertain your old tree doesn't start fires.

Like trees, lights are an indelible part of all holiday celebrations. Unfortunately, lamps and bulbs are responsible for around 20% of Christmas tree fires (according to data from the National Fire Protection Association — NFPA). This makes it important to choose lights that don't get extremely hot. To elaborate, use LED lights instead of incandescent or halogen since they don't get too hot. Moreover, buy lights that are tested in a laboratory and come with a UL (Underwriter Laboratories) certification label. Additionally, don't use indoor-approved light to illuminate your outdoors and vice versa.

Storing a string of decorative lights properly after use will keep your holiday lights from getting tangled and help you get the most out of your invested capital. However, instead of taking them out of their box in the attic (or basement) and draping them over your Christmas tree, inspect your collection first. Check to see if there are any lights with frayed wires, missing sockets, or shot bulbs, and discard them promptly. Additionally, follow instructions from the manufacturer. Taking this prevention measure will minimize the chances of a fire accident later on.

Just like checking your light collection before using them is important, you want to check the extension cords, too. Ensure they're in tip-top shape and marked safe to be used indoors (or outdoors, depending on your lighting project). Plus, avoid overloading the sockets since overheating may lead to unwarranted accidents. Avoid plugging in more than three string lights in an outlet and use a power strip, like the HANYCONY's 8 Outlet with 4 USB Ports. Similarly, avoid jamming multiple extension cords from the same power outlet to manage the overall load.

Unplugging Christmas lights before sleeping or going out won't just help you cut back that holiday electricity bill. It'll also prevent mishaps, like overheating, from turning your festive celebrations into fire alarms. In case you won't remember unplugging the lights every night before you go to bed, get timers, like BN-LINK Store's 3-prong 24-hour Mechanical Outlet model available in a pack of two. Alternatively, buy smart plugs, like EIGHTREE's 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi model, that are compatible with smart home devices, such as Alexa and Google Home to make it easier to switch off the lights.

You may be a fan of candles and use them around the year. However, the U.S. Fire Administration cautions that candle fires are four times more likely during the festive season. Such incidents claim the lives of at least 10 individuals, injure 175 people, and rack up a bill of over $20 million in property damage. This is why it's important to place them on solid surfaces and at least 1 to 3 feet away from flammable materials, like Christmas decorations and curtains. Wherever you place them, make sure they're inaccessible to your mischievous children and pets.

You'd think that your work is done after safely lighting candles on various surfaces, but you'd be wrong. In fact, your vigil is just getting started since the NFPA reports that candles are the culprit behind 11% of holiday fires. So, make it a point to never leave burning candles unattended. Always blow them out before you leave the room. For an extra measure of protection, cover the open flames with hurricane vases. Moreover, avoid using them in your bedroom, as ⅓ of residential candle fires gain momentum in these rooms.

Since open flames and holiday fires are a match made in Christmas hell, you might want to swap the real deal with flameless ones. This option will offer peace of mind, and you won't have to keep blowing off and lighting candles endless times. Available in various shapes, sizes, and colors, the choices are practically endless. For instance, you could go with SHYMERY's 200+ Hours Red Votive Flameless LED candles to match your holiday decorations or choose subtler options to cast your interiors in a warm glow.

Did you know that the majority of kitchen fires start from the stovetop? So, to guarantee your Christmas dinner doesn't come with a side of damaging fire, keep all flammable items away from your stove. This includes food packaging, wooden cutlery, oven mitts, pot holders, paper bags, wrapping paper, dish towels, and curtains. Basically, if there's even a small chance something might catch on fire when in close proximity to the stove's open flame, keep it away. You also want to maintain a distance of at least 3 feet between your kids, pets, and the stove.

It's quite common for households to cook a feast during the holidays. And when there's a slew of food to prepare, it can be easy to forget about certain dishes or overlook the grease coating the countertops. However, such petty mistakes can lead to cooking fires. So, never leave food unattended, especially if you're boiling, broiling, frying, or grilling it. Always turn off the stove before you move away. Use timers for food that's in the oven and set up large fryers outdoors. Utilize a sturdy lid to smother tiny grease fires (you'll need an extinguisher for significant flames) after you turn off the heat. Moreover, avoid operating the stovetop if you're intoxicated or extremely tired.

A toasty fireplace can make your home feel the Christmas magic if you don't have a tree. But you must exercise caution to keep your dreams of enjoying a Hallmark-esque holiday going up in flames (literally!). Start by maintaining a no-clutter zone of 3 feet from the fire in your hearth. Position rugs away, too. No kids or pets are allowed to enter the zone either. Further, install a screen to keep the glowing embers contained. Finally, always put out the fire before you retire to bed.

While fireworks are most commonly associated with the Fourth of July, a few individuals light fireworks to celebrate the holiday season, too, especially to ring in the New Year. If you're among these people, it's important to light them with caution to minimize fire hazards. For starters, don't light them near or against dry grass, littered leaves, trees, or structures. Keep an eye on your kids and pets and ensure they're away from the action area. But these measures might not be enough sometimes. Get a fire extinguisher and a bucket of water for such instances.

A smoke alarm chirping at the hint of smoke from your kitchen might be annoying, but these devices are incredibly useful during the holiday season. This is because you have a lot going on in varied corners of your home and can't monitor each situation personally. So, test all your smoke alarms before the holiday season to err on the side of caution. Install them on every floor of your home and change their batteries. You might even have to replace or add a few redundant ones to enjoy the festive celebrations worry-free.

Sometimes, even your best efforts won't be enough, and your decorations, tree, or food might catch fire. Keep fire extinguishers handy for such circumstances. This way, you can nip the tiny flames in the bud so they don't turn into a house fire. Place the extinguishers in areas most likely to catch fire, like your living room and kitchen. People might get hurt trying to take the flames out. So, ensure your first aid kit contains the necessary creams, bandages, and gauze.

Remembering and staying on top of so many pointers isn't always humanly possible. So, instead of mentally checking off everything on your keep-homestay-from-fire during the holidays list, inspect it once before going to bed. For instance, check if the candles are out, the fireplace embers are nothing but ash, the Christmas tree lights are unplugged, and the stovetop and oven are off. If possible, divide your home into zones and put each family member in charge of a zone to avoid confusion.