Merritt Fire Rescue preach fire safety ahead of the holiday season

MERRITT – With Christmas coming up, Merritt Fire Rescue reminds residents of fire risks associated with the holidays.

“The holiday season is a time where there is some increase for fire risk with the lights, trees, candles, lots of cooking and time spent in the kitchen, definitely increases the fire risk but there’s a lot of different ways you can minimize that,” said Gareth Tilt, Merritt Firefighter and Public Education Coordinator.

Starting off with the Christmas tree, Tilt said the main component for fire prevention is taking care of the tree throughout the season.

“First and for most, you want to make sure you are picking a tree that is fresh and green that doesn’t have branches that break off easily, and that you trim off about two inches of the base before you stick in in a stand so that the water goes up nice and easily into that. You want to be watering that daily, at least checking it, making sure it has a good supply, because we don’t want it to dry out. Obviously dry trees are more flammable and a greater cause of risk.”

Moving on to the lights that are strung about the house, Tilt added a simple message to start, that slips many peoples mind, making sure outdoor lights are actually outdoors and indoor lights are in the house. More safety tips include not overloading outlets and hanging lights properly.

“Making sure that we are only plugging one set into any given outlet and that we don’t overload things by plugging in more rows of lights than is actually recommended by the manufacturer. When you buy a set of lights it will always say ‘don’t string more than how many together’ and we want to make sure we hit that mark. If you’re putting them up on your roof, try to avoid using nails and stuff like that, anything that you are hammering in that is spikey that might damage the cords or wiring. If we can, we want to try to use clips and things that protects the lights. If you see any wiring that is damaged or bulbs that aren’t working or anything like that from a previous season, you want to make sure you replace those bulbs or strings of lights as quickly as you can because any of those little faults is an increased fire risk.”

Candles during the holidays brings a nice aura to the house while celebrating the festivities, but Tilt said a lot of accidental fires start from a candle.

“If you are using candles around the holidays, we encourage you to use electronic candles, if possible. If you are using a flamed candle, making sure you don’t have any combustibles nearby, we try to say at least three feet away just to make sure that nothing starts on fire. Most of the fires do start from having combustibles placed too close to them or having them in places that can be knocked or bumped over by pets or kids or stuff like that.”

Also when it comes to candles, Tilt wanted to remind residents to remember to put out the flame when leaving a room. Taking it a step further, he also mentioned turning off the light shows that are displayed outside and throughout the house.

“Even things like lights, we all love driving around at night and seeing the lights bright on the street but we want to make sure that your Christmas lights both on the tree and on your house and any decorations that are electronic, when you go to sleep they are turned off.”

Accidents are bound to happen during the holiday season and a fire may be started in your home from one of the causes mentioned above. Tilt’s main emphasis for how to handle a fire comes in the for of making sure you have the proper, working equipment.

“We definitely recommend having a fire extinguisher in the home and being trained, able to use it, and comfortable using it. The Merritt Fire Rescue Department is more than happy to show folks how to use a fire extinguisher if they would like to see that and have that training. Ultimately, we want to make sure people have working smoke detectors in their homes that they are testing those monthly. Ideally carbon monoxide detectors too, for those days sitting around the fire on cold days and even things like gas burning stoves or if you are deep frying turkey’s, which of course you need to do outside, but any chance there is any of those incomplete combustion products, we want to make sure we have carbon monoxide detectors. Changing your batteries in those detectors at least twice a year making sure that they are replaced after they’re ten years old or if they are not working and testing them every month to make sure they are working. Of course if there is a fire, make sure you call us and we will come as quickly as possible and do what we can from there.”