🍂🔥 FALL FIRE SAFETY MESSAGE 🔥🍂

🍂🔥 FALL FIRE SAFETY MESSAGE 🔥🍂
A Message from Fire Prevention Officer Tre Proctor

Fall is officially here, and we’ve been fortunate to have some warmer weather this week. Before the colder temperatures settle in, I encourage everyone to take advantage of this warm stretch to prepare your home and heating equipment for the months ahead.

As the temperatures begin to drop, our Fire and EMS departments are already seeing the seasonal increase in calls for odors of smoke, malfunctioning heating appliances, fireplaces, furnaces, and other heating-related concerns.

Last year around this time, firefighters responded to numerous residential fires involving dirty, poorly maintained, or malfunctioning heating appliances. Many of these situations can be prevented with a little preparation before that first cold night.

Please take some time this week or weekend to:

🔥 Have your furnace or heating system inspected and serviced.

🔥 Have chimneys and fireplaces professionally inspected and cleaned before use.

🔥 Clean and inspect wood stoves, pellet stoves, and other heating appliances.

🔥 Keep anything that can burn at least three feet away from heating equipment.

🔥 Inspect portable space heaters, electrical cords, plugs, and outlets before using them.

🔥 Never plug a space heater into an extension cord or power strip.

🔥 Test your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms and replace batteries when necessary.

🔥 Review your family's home escape plan and make sure everyone knows two ways out.

Don't wait until the first cold night to discover there's a problem.

Use this beautiful fall weather to prepare now. A few minutes spent inspecting, cleaning, and servicing your heating equipment could prevent a fire, save your home — or even save a life.

If just one person reads this message and takes action that prevents a tragedy, we've accomplished our goal.

Prepare now. Heat safely later.