Some Christmas safety advice is always useful, especially when your house and even your family’s life are at stake. If you Christmas tree catches fire, it only takes one minute for the whole room to be covered in black thick smoke from your burning tree and furniture. So be sure you fallow the safety advice to make the best out of your holidays.
The safety concerns begin ever since you buy the Christmas lights. Do not buy anything without the Good Housekeeping or the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) seal. These are the lights approved for safety.
Then, even before installing the lights, make sure to inspect the whole circuit for bare wires or loose connections and for broken sockets. Each socket should have a bulb in it, even if it’s not lighting up. Otherwise, any metal part of your tree’s decorations could create sparks if it’s accidentally touching the empty socket.
Do not use the Christmas lights on an overloaded circuit. If the current shuts down when you plug the lights in, try disconnecting some of them or move them on another circuit.
Try to only use fire-retardant decorations and keep those made out of paper away from the lights, which produce heat and could set them on fire. Just in case, keep a fire extinguisher near the Christmas tree.
Use a stable stand for your tree. If the Christmas tree falls down and breaks the bulbs, they could set the decorated tree on fire. Also, never place the tree near heat sources like radiators or heating vents.
When decorating the exterior of the house only use decorating objects and light labeled for using outdoors. Do not use staple guns since they might break the plastic insulation and expose the wires. You may use insulated staples and carefully hammer them.
Also, when installing outdoor lights, use a wooden ladder since it won’t conduct electricity.
But most important of all, remember to unplug all the decorations when you leave the house and before going to bed. Never leave the Christmas lights turned on during the night!
In only 4 years, from 2009 to 2013, Christmas tree were responsible for 210 house fires, resulting in 7 deaths, 19 injured persons and property damages with a total value of $17.5 million.
Each year, hundreds of people get to the Emergency Room with injuries related to Christmas lights. Try not to be one of them.
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