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Mitigating Fire Risks in Your Home During the Festive Season
The festive season is right around the corner, with many people already getting their decorations out from their lofts and cupboards. As homely and exciting as this time of year is for many, it does often come with an increased risk of fires in the home.
From open flames to abundant decorations, there are various factors that can increase your risk of experiencing a fire at home during the festive season. Read on below to see what these risks are and what you can do to keep them to a minimum.
Don’t Leave Candles Unattended
There’s nothing like a winter candle to make your home feel cosy during the winter. Whether you light candles to fill your home with the sweet aroma of oranges, cloves and cranberry or light unscented candles simply for the homely aesthetic, there’s no denying that winter is prime candle time.
Naturally, more candles equals more open flames - an obvious fire hazard in the home. When lighting candles over the winter, make sure you place them on a heat proof surface and keep them away from anything flammable, such as curtains, furnishings or decorations.
You should never leave candles unattended, either. Make sure to blow your candles out before leaving the room in which they’re lit.
Avoid Overloading Plug Sockets
It’s highly likely that you crack out an extension cable during the festive period, as many do, to plug in your Christmas lights. From lights on your tree to lights hung around your room, it’s not unlikely that you won’t have enough sockets to fit all your plugs.
Extension cables, then, come in handy during this time. However, you should still take care to not overload your sockets. By plugging too many things into one socket, you can cause it to spark or overheat. You should also remember to switch off and unplug your Christmas lights before you go to bed and when leaving your home to prevent electrical fires.
Take Care When Cooking
With the cold weather outside, a hearty, home-cooked meal is always welcoming in the winter months. Of course, there’s also the meal of the season to look forward to - Christmas dinner!
Make sure you take care when cooking. Of course, this is something you should remember all throughout the year, but especially so during festivities. This is because it’s much more likely that you’ll get distracted, not to mention you might be cooking more often and will likely be cooking more things at once (especially if you have family over).
Take care to also avoid cooking whilst under the influence of alcohol - whilst it’s natural to enjoy a tipple at this time of year, save it for after cooking!
Ensuring Home Security
As well as taking the necessary precautions to mitigate the risks of a fire breaking out in your home, you should also make sure you’ve got the necessary security measures in place in case it does, such as a working smoke alarm and home fire extinguisher.
If you’re in need of such items and require assistance, then we can help here at Snowdonia Fire Protection. Get in touch to learn more about how we help our domestic customers.
