Ending the Fire Season – Making Sure You’re Safe
Fireplaces and other house areas have just as high a fire risk during the summer months as they have during the winter months. Dry winds increased temperature, and open fire grilling also added to the fire hazard. Moreover, improperly stored firewood and an uncleaned fireplace can also cause other issues.
Hence as winters past, it’s essential to take the following measures to keep yourself and your home safe:
Cleaning the Fireplace
Fireplace cleanup should be a priority to reduce fire risk in your home. The soot remaining from burned fires can become airborne and spread around your house, especially if fans are turned on during summer. Soot can settle in different nooks and crannies and cause any burning fire to expand uncontrollably.
While fireplace cleanup is necessary during the winter months when the fireplace is being used, it’s equally important to keep it cleaned and maintained during the summer. Clean it thoroughly once when the winter is over and keep dusting it every month during the summer months. When dusting the fireplace, make sure you don’t forget to dust the chimney. Please don’t allow any birds to make their nests in the chimney and keep it free of dust too. You can close the chimney from above for further protection.
Besides expanding fires, soot and dust can also cause breathing issues among people. If continued to persist, they can cause dust allergy or skin problems such as eczema.
Storing Firewood Properly
Storing firewood properly is another important step that you need to ensure once winter is over. It will not only let you enjoy better quality wood next winter but will also save your home from pests or mold attacks. Moreover, improperly stored firewood can experience carbon monoxide buildup, which can be hazardous to your and your family’s health. When not stored properly, seasoned firewood can become porous, rendering it useless by reducing its burning time and giving little to no heat.
The right way to store leftover firewood is to store it in an open space with a shed, away from the home. You can find the best spot around the house based on the requirement of keeping the wood clean, dry, and well-aired. The backyard shed can be a good place if it’s well ventilated and stays clean. Otherwise, you can also store the firewood in a covered storage stand near the shed. You can keep the space clean of bugs and pests and your yard well-trimmed so that no bugs or pests attack the firewood. The shed will keep the firewood safe from rainwater, and the open space will keep it well-aired and dry.
Storing Christmas Décor Properly
Much of the Christmas décor involves electric lights, candles, or dried wood items. While these items are far less likely to catch fire when not in use, improperly storing them can cause other issues. For example, dried wood can be attacked by pests, and electric lights and candles can malfunction. Electric lights can face issues in wiring, and candles can lose their consistency when stored at less than ideal temperatures.
The pests in wooden décor items can affect and ruin other items placed in storage. Whereas malfunctioning electric lights can likely cause a fire hazard when used the next year.
Grilling Safely
The arrival of summer means a variety of grilled lunches for several people. However, harsh summer weather can make it difficult to operate the grill. This can cause some people to leave the grill unattended while making others grill inside the home. Both these situations can be extremely dangerous.
Leaving open grills unattended outside, especially during dry winds, can cause embers to fly away and start a fire where they land. While it’s best to never leave a burning grill unattended, closed grills can reduce fire risk since embers stay under the grill lid.
On the other hand, both open and closed grills can be harmful inside the home in multiple ways. Firstly, they can increase the temperature inside the house, which can affect various belongings, including electronic appliances. Secondly, young children or pets at home can run into the grill and cause it to topple over, which can set the entire house on fire. Thirdly, you might turn off the smoke alarm to the grill inside the home and forget to turn it on again. This act can put your entire home at heightened fire risk. Last but not the least, open grilling inside the home can also send off embers which can set various items on fire. Your wooden furniture, canvases on the wall, fabrics in the form of couch, cushions, rugs, and curtains can all be turned to dust in a fire. Therefore you need to ensure safety measures while grilling so you can help secure your home from fire hazards.
However, accidents can always occur even if you take all safety measures. If a fire breaks out at your home, call the local fire department as soon as you can. Once the fire is put out, contact a restoration service to clean your home of soot and fireproof it for the future. Many restoration services, such as the 911 Restoration of Greensboro, provide complete fire damage cleanup for personal and commercial properties.
