2020 Holiday Fire Safety Tips for Mesa AZ Residents

10/16/2020 (Permalink)

Christmas Tree on Fire

2020 Holiday Fire Safety Information

The holiday season is coming up and it is important to remember a few things during the Holiday season to help prevent a house fire here in Mesa AZ. It’s my favorite time of the year, but unfortunately it's the time a year when fires go up. That's right. Especially accidental fires. So we're gonna talk about a few things here to help keep you and your family safe.

So let's start with candles. The candle market has exploded the past 10 years. Everyone uses them. Decoratively, to scent their houses, or as gifts. Everybody loves candles. But we have to use them safely. So here's a quick tip for candles, especially during the holiday time of year. If you don't use them a lot. You want to put something down like tin foil, something non-combustible. What does that mean? It means it's not going to burn. OK, we want to catch the wax but we also put a layer between the candle and something that's going to burn.

So if we do something simple like that, we can put our candles out in a tray or something, on top of our tin foil. Then you can dress them up. 

Here are some things you want to keep in mind when using candles during the holidays:

1. The one thing we don't want to do is we don't want to put our candles near drapery.
2. We don't want to put them near the curtains or other furnishings.
3. We want to have what's called a three foot ring of safety around our lit candles all the time. Always keep three feet between the candle and anything flammable.

During Christmas time most people in the Mesa AZ area like to put up a Christmas tree. We're all very proud of our tree. It's a great family tradition. We love to decorate it. We love to display it, but there's a few things we need to know. 

1. First of all where we put the tree. We don't want to put the tree anywhere where it's going to block our path to get out in case of an emergency.
2. The second thing is, we don't want to have our tree near anything that gets hot. So we don't want to put it in the front window for the neighbors to see, if that's where the radiator is. We don't wanna put it next to the fireplace, although that makes a great picture for our Christmas card, that's not the best place to put the tree either. We don't want to have this tree dry out.
3. A dry Christmas tree will burn in 30 seconds. It's devastating. They make turpentine out of pine trees. It's very flammable once it's dried out, think of that on fire.  
4. Keep them watered, for goodness sake. 
5. Talk to your tree. Communicate with your tree, OK? Come over every once in a while during the season. And check the tree needles. When these needles start falling off, you're getting in a dangerous situation.

Christmas lights. OK, we love our lights. Actually some of us hate our lights. Well... You hate them when they look like a mess and are all tangled up, right?! It's very important, before you put them back on the tree, or on our home, to go through them.  You want to inspect them. You want to go through to make sure there are no exposed wires, no frayed wires, and no broken bulbs. These issues can cause a shock hazard and a fire hazard. So very carefully inspect the whole string. When we put them on, don't put more than three strings together. Don't cheat. Keep it down to three strings plugged in together.

You'll be OK. Also, you want to make sure you buy the lights at a reputable store. When it comes to electrical appliances, Christmas lights, anything like that, get them from a reputable place. And make sure that it has a marking that says UL on the back. It means they've been tested for the use that they're designed for. As long as you maintain them they'll be safe forever. Buy the good Christmas lights and maintain them.

If you have questions about a potential fire safety issue, feel free to reach out to one of our fire safety experts here at SERVPRO of North Central Mesa at (480) 553-7103. If you are on a mobile device and want to send a message, send us a message through our Google my Business listing at g.page/SERVPROofnorthcentralmesa. Of course, if there is a fire, call 911 and then give us a call. We can be there on the tails of the first responders ready to support you.