Two chief areas of fire danger around the holidays are in the kitchen and around the Christmas tree.Galesburg Fire Marshall Randy Hovind tells WGIL with high level of activity in the kitchen around Christmas it’s important to stay alert.
“What happens a lot of time is you’ve got a lot of families coming together,” says Hovin. “There’s a lot of cooking, that type of thing and then you get busy especially around the holidays, you get busy with all the various things going on with families. Unattended cooking is one of our biggest items that we see.”
The Galesburg Fire Department recommends that families try to keep children at least three feet away from the stove.
Even if you’re leaving for just a minute, don’t leave a stove burning unsupervised.
Hovin recommends when it comes to your annual tennebaum an artificial tree is a safer bet.
“And that if you do have a real tree you keep it watered and try to keep it as non dry as possible, then once Christmas is over dispose of that tree as soon as you can,” says Hovin.
The GFD says a real tree can engulf a room in 30-60 seconds.
Artificial trees are made from a flame retardant material.
He says most of the tree fires they attend to are from real trees but whether you have a real or fake, double check that the lights you’re hanging aren’t worn
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