CONTACT: Hollye Staley, (859) 323-6363

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Safe Kids Offers Winter Home Heating Safety Tips

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 21, 2005) − Safety experts fear that rising energy prices may lead to large increases in fires involving home heating equipment this winter. Some families will use heating alternatives such as space heaters, wood stoves and gas fireplaces to help warm their homes.

Because of this, winter months are the peak time for house fires and carbon monoxide poisonings because these devices carry a risk if misused or not properly maintained. They also can be a severe burn hazard for young children. Cold temperatures may prompt families to turn to risky drastic measures, such as using a gas oven or charcoal grill to heat the home.

“Families using alternative heat can better protect themselves by having working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms on every level of the home and in sleeping areas,” said Sherri Hannan, Safe Kids Fayette County coordinator. “You also should have fire extinguishers within reach in the kitchen, garage and bedroom.”

As winter swings into full gear, Safe Kids Fayette County offers some simple safety tips to help keep families and their homes safer:

Fire Prevention

  • Turn off space heaters when you leave an area or before going to sleep. Keep children and pets away.
  • Place space heaters on a level, hard and nonflammable surface, and keep them at least three feet away from bedding, drapes, furniture and other flammable materials.
  • Ensure that space heaters meet the latest safety standards, which include having an automatic cut-off device and guarding around the heating coils and burners.
  • Most home fireplaces are intended to create atmosphere and some additional heating, and are not intended as a primary heating source. Continuous use of fireplaces can be dangerous.
  • Never use gasoline, charcoal lighter or other fuel to light or relight a fire because the vapors could explode.
  • Keep flammable materials away from all heating equipment.
  • Never use your cooking range or oven to heat your home, even for a short time. An electric burner, left on for extended periods, can reach a temperature of 1,000 degrees and can cause adjacent walls to ignite.

Burn Prevention

  • Outer surfaces of wood stoves, fireplaces and portable heaters can get hot enough to cause a burn injury. Children should be kept away.
  • The doors of gas fireplaces quickly heat to more than 200 degrees and remain hot for more than 45 minutes after shut off. Children have been badly burned by touching these doors, and adults should use caution as well.
  • Install a temporary safety gate around wood stoves and hearths.

Safety Tips

  • Never leave a child unattended in a room with an operating fireplace, wood stove or space heater.
  • Have a professional inspect wood or coal stoves or fireplaces every year and have them cleaned as often as the inspections indicate.
  • If you use a kerosene space heater, make sure it is UL certified and use only the fuel recommended by the manufacturer.
  • Make sure any gas-fueled heating device is adequately ventilated. If your home is very well sealed or not well ventilated, carbon monoxide can build up to dangerous levels.
  • Know the early warning signs of low-level carbon monoxide poisoning: tiredness, headaches, dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath and reddening of the skin.

Heating equipment is a leading cause of home fires during the months of December, January and February, and trails only cooking equipment in home fires year-round. According to the National Fire Prevention Association, heating equipment was involved in about 45,500 home structure fires in 2002. These fires caused 220 deaths and 990 fire-related injuries.

Portable and fixed space heaters, including wood stoves, caused a disproportionate share of the home heating fire deaths. Space heaters were involved in 25 percent of the home heating fires but 74 percent of the deaths. The leading cause of space heater fires was flammable materials too close to the heater, followed by creosote build-up in wood burning stoves and unattended electric space heaters.

“If a fire does occur in your home, remember to ’stop, drop and roll’ and use your family’s planned escape route out of the home,” Hannan said. “Go to a neighbor’s house or use your cell phone to call the fire department. Never go back into a burning building.”

If someone who has been in a poorly ventilated room with a fuel-burning appliance begins to feel nauseous, drowsy or confused, or complains of a headache, move the person to fresh air and call 911. If more than one person in the home suddenly feels ill for no apparent reason, or if a carbon monoxide alarm goes off, get everyone outside immediately and call the fire department from a pre-arranged meeting place.

Safe Kids Fayette County, led by Kentucky Children’s Hospital, is part of Safe Kids Worldwide, the first and only national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to the prevention of unintentional childhood injury — the number one killer of children ages 14 and under. More than 300 state and local Safe Kids coalitions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico make up the coalition.

For more information about fire safety and injury prevention, call the Safe Kids Fayette County office at (859) 323-1153.

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