Holiday Fire Safety
While you are thinking about the holidays, gatherings, celebrations, and travel, we are thinking about safety to keep you protected. That's why we built this page to remind you of the various safety tips covering decorations and battery hazards, common causes of house fires during the holiday season. Additionally, we offer emergency lodging safety tips for hotel/motel or short-term vacation home rentals. We encourage you to contact us with any concerns or questions about holiday fire safety.
Battery Safety
Take
C.H.A.R.G.E.
of battery safety
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Choose certified products.
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Handle with care.
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Always stay alert.
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Recycle properly.
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Get out quickly.
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Educate others.
Did you know:
You should store lithium-ion batteries at room temperature when possible. Do not charge them at temperatures below 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) or above 105 degrees F (40 degrees C).
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Stop using lithium-ion batteries if you notice an odor, change in color, too much heat, change in shape, leaking or odd noises.
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Don't put lithium-ion batteries in the trash. Recycle them at your local battery recycling location.
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Store spare lithium-ion batteries away from anything that can burn.
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Don't put lithium-ion batteries in direct sunlight or keep them in hot cars. This is a fire risk.
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Remove lithium-ion batteries from your checked smart luggage and keep them with you on the plane.
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Remove spare, loose lithium-ion batteries from checked luggage and keep them with you on the plane.
Smart Luggage Batteries
Decorating homes and businesses is a long-standing tradition around the holiday season. Unfortunately, these same decorations may increase your chances of a fire.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), more than 200 home fires each year start with a Christmas tree. In this video, NIST fire researchers demonstrate what could happen if a fire starts in a watered Christmas tree vs. a dry Christmas tree.
This page contains fire safety information repeated in various formats and languages. The pictographs help overcome literacy barriers to communicate with pictures for all to share in fire safety. Please share the handouts, pictographs, videos, or details with friends and family to encourage fire safety.
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Water your Christmas tree every day. A dry Christmas tree can burn very hot and very fast.
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Make sure your tree is at least 3 feet away from heat sources like fireplaces, radiators, space heaters, candles or heat vents. Also, make sure your tree does not block exits.
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Inspect holiday lights each year before you put them up. Throw away light strands with frayed or pinched wires.
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Read manufacturer’s instructions for the number of light strands to connect.
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Get rid of your tree after Christmas or when it is dry.
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Keep candles at least 12 inches away from anything that burns. Make sure they are in stable holders and place them where they cannot be knocked down easily.
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Consider using battery-operated flameless candles, which can look, smell and feel like real candles.
Inspect holiday lights each year before you put them on your tree. Throw away light strands with frayed or pinched wires.
Always unplug Christmas tree lights before going to bed or leaving your home.
Water your Christmas tree every day. Keep your Christmas tree as least 3 feet away from heat sources like fireplaces, radiators, space heaters, candles and heat vents.
Hotel and Short-Term Rental Safety
Hotel Safety
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Fire safety is important, even when you are away from home.
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Stay in hotels and motels that have hard-wired smoke alarms and an automatic fire sprinkler system in each guest room.
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Read the evacuation plan carefully.
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Find the 2 closest exits from your room.
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Count the number of doors between your room and the exits. This will help if you need to get out in the dark.
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Find the fire alarms on your floor.
Read the evacuation plan in your room. Find the closest exits to the outside from your room. Count the number of doors between your room and the exits.
Keep your room key near your bed.
Vacation and short-term rentals – Be sure:
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Everyone knows the address of the rental.
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Everyone knows 2 ways out of every room and out of the rental if there is an emergency.
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There are working smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area and on every level of the rental.
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There are working carbon monoxide alarms on every level of the rental.
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You can open all doors and windows that lead outside.
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Everyone knows the location of fire extinguishers.
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You choose an outside meeting place a safe distance from the rental.
Did You Know: While there are fire safety regulations in place for hotels and motels, homes and apartments used as vacation or short-term rentals are not regulated to the same extent.