Indoor Fire Safety Theme For Winter Weather Awareness Week Wednesday

(KNSI) – Winter Weather Awareness Week shifts indoors on Wednesday, examining fire risk.

Meteorologist Eric Ahasic says the problems stem from two sources. The first is your chimney, which can crop up throughout the season. The second is more common during an emergency. If a storm knocks out power, in come the generators or space heaters, which are not meant to be run in confined spaces of a house.

“People are running heavy-duty space heaters and stuff inside the house, and those aren’t really designed to be inside the house. They need really heavy-duty power outlets that you usually don’t have. Maybe in the garage you have them, not really inside the house. So, if you leave those unattended, fall asleep with it on, it can short out, or it can catch on fire.”

Ahasic says fire isn’t the only potentially lethal threat that comes from running the equipment. “Even if it doesn’t short out, it can lead to carbon monoxide issues inside the house, which is that gas that’s very toxic, very poisonous. Basically, [you] can’t breathe it. So that can lead to issues if you have one of those heaters running in kind of an enclosed space.”

Ahasic recommends having a checklist to go through early in the winter season, including inspecting your smoke alarms, ensuring your chimney is cleared out and there is no buildup in the flue, developing a plan on how to use a space heater or generator if the power is out, and having extra blankets and long-sleeve clothing on hand to ride out the situation until crews make repairs.

Another thing to consider is holiday decorating. Guidelines suggest ensuring that your tree is at least three feet from any type of heat source. You should also carefully inspect the light strands and bulbs for any evidence that they could short out.

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