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Baby It's Cold Outside: Fall Fire Safety and Tips

Writer's picture: Gary OliverGary Oliver

Summer is winding down and it is time for the transition into fall. GOD will soon dazzle us with all the brilliant colors as the leaves change and we will soon be greeted with crisp mornings and cool nights. Ecclesiastes 3:1, To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

There are several things that we need to do to make our homes safe and protect our loved ones. Fall is a peak season for forest fires due to all the dead, dry leaves that are falling, low humidity and dry vegetation that builds up around our homes. You need to keep all this material cleaned up around your home and disposed of in a safe area to reduce the risk of a forest fire from spreading to your house. You also need to trim up any low hanging branches on trees that are close to your home and ideally you would like to have them pruned back to head high so that it makes it far more difficult for the tree itself to catch fire and spread.



There are several things that we need to do inside our homes as well with the most important being to change the batteries in our smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. You need to test them and make sure they are in proper working order and check the expiration date on your carbon monoxide detector as they expire in ten years and many people may not be aware of this. If there is any doubt, then just go ahead and replace them as they are not that expensive, and these are much too important to you and your family’s safety to take a chance. You also need to check your fire extinguishers and make sure they are fully charged and can be easily accessed when needed. This is also a wonderful time to practice a fire drill with your family and make sure everyone knows how to escape in the event of a fire and where everyone is going to meet at outside in a safe location.

This is also the time of year that people start to use that space heater that has been in storage since spring or build a fire in the wood stove or fireplace. You need to inspect your space heaters and make sure there is no damage to the power cord and that the vents are clean and clear of any debris. Never use an extension cord for a space heater as that is one of the leading causes of fires involving a space heater as they are not designed for this, the cord heats up, shorts out and causes a fire.




You need to inspect the door seals on your wood stoves and make sure they are good and inspect your pipes and make sure there is no creosote buildup or that they are blocked by bird or insect nests and that you have removed any covers that you may have placed over them for the summer. This also applies to fireplace chimneys as well. By taking these simple steps, we can be better protected from accidental fires in and around our homes and have a head start for the cold of winter when we will be relying of these items to keep us warm and cozy.

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