It’s National Fire Prevention Week, October 5-11, and this years theme is “Charge into Fire Safety™: Lithium-Ion Batteries in Your Home”. The National Fire Protection Association wants to work to ensure everyone is educated about using Lithium-Ion Batteries safely. They suggest three important steps, BUY, CHARGE, and RECYCLE safely! We will cover these in more detail below.
With fire safety on the mind, I bet you are thinking about your chimney! With the arrival of autumn comes the use of fireplaces to heat your home. So, to enjoy your fireplace and keep your house safe, here are some steps you can take to be sure that a fire won’t happen in your chimney or is ignited by your fireplace. Let’s take a look at some tips to keep your chimney safe for National Fire Prevention Week.
Ensure Your Chimney is Serviced and Inspected
Inspection and having your chimney swept are vital to your fireplace and chimney’s safety. It should be undertaken at least once every twelve months; more if you use your fireplace often. If your chimney isn’t inspected and swept on a normal basis, the logs burned in your fireplace can create a sticky, very flammable substance known as creosote; which will blanket the inside of your chimney. Every time you use logs in your fireplace, the creosote builds up in your chimney, ultimately leading to a chimney fire. A professional, experienced, and trustworthy chimney sweep service can service your chimney and stave off chimney fires.Keep a Fire Extinguisher Handy
An ideal way to protect your home from fires started by your fireplace, or any fire in your house, is to keep a fire extinguisher near your fireplace. If a fire in the fireplace gets too big to handle, or an ember shoots out (see below), you can get it under control quickly. For overall safety, it is good to keep a fire extinguisher in every room.Screens Keep Fire in Your Fireplace
Embers may jump out of a fireplace and connect with furniture, curtains, carpet, or even older hardwood floors and will ignite them. Keep your furniture more than three feet back from your fireplace; it will keep the items in your room from bursting into flames. The ideal way to keep this from happening is by positioning a screen in front of your fireplace to hold embers and white hot projectiles in. A screen boasts the benefit of saving pets and children from being burned by your fireplace.Check the Batteries in Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors Frequently
It is wise to inspect and replace the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors frequently. Putting new batteries into your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors will help ensure that your house ,pets, and loved ones are safe from fires and deadly fumes. If you don’t own a smoke or carbon monoxide detector, purchase one right away; they may save your family’s life. Make sure to place them about fifteen feet from your fireplace for the best performance.Burn Wood in Your Fireplace and Nothing Else
Burning anything other than seasoned wood in your fireplace could be a bad idea and could be deadly. Painted or treated wood can create toxic fumes that could make your family and pets sick or worse. You should never burn plastics and other non-wood items in your fireplace. Make sure the wood you put in your fireplace is seasoned for the best results. Uncured, also known as green wood, will produce heavy smoke, invading the room where your fireplace is, and making it difficult to breathe.
