Tips given to keep you fire safe during the holidays

  • Published
  • By John Gilmore
  • Assistant Fire Chief, Fire Prevention
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Here are some tips to keep you and your family safe during this holiday season:

1. Keep all sources of ignition away from Christmas trees, especially live trees. If the tree catches fire, it will probably burn your house down. You will probably not be able to put it out.

2. Make sure live trees are fresh ... no needles falling out or discolored. Always keep live trees in water.

3. Don't use electrical decorations on live trees as they could be a source of ignition. If you must, make sure all electric devices, lights, etc. are UL or FM approved (labeled).

4. Do not have open flames, such as candles, in the room where a live Christmas tree is located.

5. Make sure the tree, if it should catch on fire, doesn't block the escape route. Try to put a closed door between the tree and the escape route if possible. The bedroom door counts only if you can escape to the outside through the bedroom window.

6. Make sure you have a working smoke detector(s). People usually don't die from heat ... it's the carbon monoxide in the smoke that gets them long before the heat. Don't be fooled by the "fire will wake me up" syndrome. That rarely happens. Carbon monoxide makes you sleep more deeply and perhaps permanently.

7. If the smoke detector alarms, get your family out immediately. Don't delay ... there won't be much time to save yourself and your family.

8. De-energize all electrical decorations when unattended.

9. Sleep with the bedroom doors closed, not just during the holidays, but all the time. It keeps smoke and heat at bay and gives more time to escape or to be rescued.

10. Don't leave cooking unattended. Cooking fires are the source for most residential fires. Most people don't realize how destructive these common fires are. They can destroy the house. Keep a lid handy when cooking with oil or grease (the source of most cooking fires) and if the pan flames up, slide the lid over it. You don't have to do anything dramatic to put these fires out ... just be there with a lid. Don't put water, flour, etc., on a pan fire as it will just make it worse. You can use an ABC fire extinguisher if you have it but a lid is better for fires still confined to the pan.

11. With the proliferation of artificial Christmas trees, it's possible to buy one that is as dangerous as a live tree. How do you know? Take a little piece of the material and touch a flame to it. It may ignite but when you remove the flame, the material should self-extinguish. If it doesn't, you have a bad tree and shouldn't use it.