We all see the news reports every year, a family loses everything to a Holiday house fire. It is very easy to think it will happen to someone else, until you are the family on the evening news, standing in the driveway of charred ruins. The lights are very pretty that is for sure but before you string fire starters on your gutters be sure you keep safety in mind.
Before hanging, the decorations be sure to check your strings of lights for:
- Frayed or bare cords, and check for broken wires. If you find any problems, with the actual wires and cords throw the strand away.
- Broken or missing bulbs. Be sure to replace a broken bulb when the lights are NOT plugged in!
- Cracked sockets
- Look for the UL Mark on light strings, electrical decorations and extension cords. UL is an independent, not-for-profit product testing and certification organization that has evaluated products, materials and systems for more than a century and continues to work for a safer world. More than 17 billion UL Marks appear on new products each year.
- Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for electrical decorations.
- Use the proper lights and be sure your lighting is rated for indoor or outdoor use.
While hanging your lights be sure to keep safety in mind, it might be cold outside but taking short cuts is a great way to ruin your holiday! For fire safety, keep these things in mind when hanging your lights:
- Never use staples, nails, or thumb-tacks to hang light strings. Be sure not to pierce the wires. When possible use zip-cords and hooks or clips designed for hanging light strings.
- Read the packaging to determine the maximum number of light strings that can be connected to each other. If you don’t have the packages any longer follow this guideline: Connect a maximum of 3 midget (push-in bulbs) light strings or up to 50 bulbs of light strings with the screw-in bulbs (C7s and C9s).
- Be very careful not and don’t overload extension cords by plugging in too many decorations.
- Don’t connect multiple extension cords together. I once handled a claim where a family had several extension cords loaded and connected to an additional extension cord by the time it reached the outlet about 20 strands of lights were loaded on one cord, and one outlet.
- Only use extension cords designed for outdoor for lighting outside.
- Once your house is decorated, remember to keep fire safety in mind:
- Turn off or better yet, unplug your decorative lights when you leave home.
- Turn your lights off before you go to bed at night.
- Purchase a timer so your holiday lights are only on during the hours you would like them to be on. Timers also help save electricity.
- Keep all electrical connectors off the ground and away from water.
Other Fire Safe Suggestions:
- Don’t use lights too close to carpeting, drapes, furniture, and other combustible materials.
- Water your indoor Christmas tree well so it doesn’t dry out and become a fire hazard.
Related Blogs:
- How To Have a Claim Free Holiday Season
- Household Inventory–Getting Started
- Do You Need Extra Insurance For Your Personal Property?
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