The safety professionals at Millennium Fire & Security want you to have a fire-safe holiday season. You are decorating your home for the holidays with lights and candles. You are keeping yourself warm and cozy at home with the heating on.

While all these are essential to celebrating and enjoying the holiday season at home, they also happen to be fire hazards.

Here are some interesting statistics from the NFPA worth nothing:

• Lighting equipment and electrical distribution caused 44% of tree fires at home.
• 39% of tree fires began in the living room.
• 5% were flue or chimney fires.
• 21% of decoration fires began in the kitchen.
• 16% of fires began in the family room and living room.

This holiday season, make preventing accidents and keeping your family safe top priorities. We have some great tips that will help you get started with fireproofing your home.

1. Inspect the Lights

Before you turn your decorative lights on, inspect the cords for damage. Discard the lights if their wire is frayed, worn or kinked.

2. Do Not Overload the Circuit

Most households can power 300 to 500 strings of 50-watt LED lights and 70 strings of 50-watt mini lights. Do you plan to use more than that? If you plan to use more lights than recommended, you need to spread the strands of lights across several circuits to prevent overloading. Consider all major appliances if you intend to plug a strand of lights in the same circuit.

3. Turn Off All the Decorations and Lights before You Leave the House or Go to Bed

If you do not want to turn off the decorations and lights each night, you can install a timer. The timer will automatically turn the lights on at dusk and turn them off at dawn or earlier.

4. Use a Ground-fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI)

A GFCI is a wall outlet that you can install in certain areas of your house where there is a chance of water and electricity mixing. GFCI monitors the electrical current that flows through them and automatically turns off if it senses an imbalanced current such as water entering the system. Taking this step decreases the risk of electrical shock.

5. Hydrate Your Tree

A dehydrated tree can catch fire easily. Remember to water it daily to keep it from drying.

Are you looking for more ways to celebrate the holidays safely this year? If you are, give us a call at 407-890-0506 because we are safety leaders working to ensure you have a fire-safe holiday season.