Halloween Fire Safety Tips for Safe Decorating

10/7/2019 (Permalink)

Halloween fire safety is very important and SERVPRO of Ottumwa / Oskaloosa is here with these safety tips. If you have an accidental fire in your home or business you can depend on SERVPRO of Ottumwa / Oskaloosa to help with your clean up needs. We believe though that  knowledge and prethinking helps to reduce fire damage.

• Use a battery-operated candle or glow-stick in jack-o-lanterns. If you use a real candle, use extreme caution. Make sure children are watched at all times when candles are lit. When lighting candles inside jack-o-lanterns, use long, fireplace-style matches or a utility lighter. Be sure to place lit pumpkins well away from anything that can burn and far enough out of the way of trick-or-treaters, doorsteps, walkways, and yards.
• Dried flowers, cornstalks and crepe paper catch fire easily. Keep all decorations away from open flames and other heat sources like light bulbs and heaters.
• Tell children to stay away from open flames including jack-o-lanterns with candles in them. Be sure they know how to stop, drop and roll if their clothing catches fire.

Halloween fire facts

• From 2009-2013, decorations were the item first ignited in an estimated average of 860 reported home structure fires per year.
• Nearly half of decoration fires in homes occurred because the decorations were too close to a heat source.
• These fires caused an estimated average of one civilian death, 41 civilian injuries, and $13 million in direct property damage per year.
• Forty-one percent of these incidents were started by candles; one-fifth began in the living room, family room, or den. 

 Source: NFPA Applied Research