Home is where a fire is most likely to hit. Each year, heating equipment is involved in roughly 70,000 reported home fires according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The cost of these fires goes far beyond just money and property damage with more than 600 deaths and almost 1,600 injuries on average each year. Heating equipment fires kill two people every day.
While home heating fires are quite prevalent, they are largely preventable. The Roseville Fire Department is encouraging you to not let this tragedy happen to you. With your help, we can reduce the number of home heating fires in Roseville.
Here are just a few simple ways you can decrease the risk of a heating fire in your home:
- Have your chimney inspected each year and cleaned if necessary.
- Use a sturdy fireplace screen.
- Allow ashes to cool before disposing. Dispose of ashes in a metal container.
- Space heaters need space. Keep all things that can burn, such as paper, bedding or furniture, at least 3 feet away from heating equipment.
- Turn portable heaters off when you go to bed or leave the room.
- Plug power cords only into outlets with sufficient capacity and never into an extension cord.
- Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home. Interconnect all smoke alarms through the home – when one sounds, they all sound. Test smoke alarms at least once a month.
- Install and maintain a carbon monoxide alarm in a central location outside each sleeping area.
- Never use an oven to heat your home.