At Christmastime, consider fire safety

Christmas trees, brilliant wrappings, the aroma of baking, the glow of candles and family get-togethers can also mean highly flammable trees and loose paper, hazardous open flames and crowded homes with congested exits.

Bah humbug. It's true, though; Christmas is also the time for house fires. In Minnesota, an average of 188 fires occur between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day, out of a yearly average of 5,151 total residential fires, said Becki White, public fire safety educator with the State Fire Marshal's office and a lieutenant with the Eden Prairie Fire Department. Over the past 20 years, 39 people have died in Christmas week fires statewide.

In Minnesota, nearly half of Christmas week fires start from cooking, followed by heating at 11 percent and open flames at 10 percent.

Most of those are preventable, White said.

"You don't have to change your holiday traditions to be more safe," she said. "You can stay with your traditions, but rethink them to make them more safe, rather than abandoning safety or abandoning your traditions."

Exits should be unobstructed. Make sure smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are functioning. Minneapolis, St. Paul and other cities have programs to provide them for free.

Carbon monoxide, a poisonous, odorless, invisible gas, is a problem in Minnesota homes each winter. Heavy snow has created an added hazard this year in the form of buried furnace vents. Roof vents usually remain free of snow and ice, but homeowners should check to make sure that ground floor-level vents -- usually along the foundation, near the utility room -- aren't buried.

Similarly, those with homes heated by natural gas should make sure gas meters are free of ice and snow. There's a pressure valve on the pipe at the top right of the meter that must be clear to work, White said. A stuck valve could result in indoor gas leaks or a furnace shutoff, meaning a frigid house and maybe frozen and burst pipes. The Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety recommends gently brushing snow off the meter with your fingers. If there's ice on it, call your natural gas provider.

Other holiday fire safety tips.

•Cooking: If you must leave the kitchen while food is boiling or baking, set a timer so you're passing through the kitchen occasionally. Keep a 3-foot buffer with no flammables around the stove. Turn skillet handles in, and remember that frying food needs constant monitoring, White said. If there is a grease fire, water will only spread it. Smother the flames with a tight-fitting lid.

•Heating: Keep that 3-foot buffer around fireplaces, space heaters, heating vents and other heat sources. If there are live coals in the fireplace at night, take the stockings off the mantel, and don't replace them until morning. Toss wrapping paper in the garbage. Bits can fly out of the chimney and ignite your roof or neighbors'.

•Celebrating: If you light candles, announce that you're doing so, then others can help remind you to blow them out. Make sure candleholders are sturdy and fireproof. Consider flameless candles, widely available in a variety of sizes and shapes. Water your live Christmas tree daily. If needles break off easily, the tree is dead and a fire hazard. Check light strings for broken bulbs or loose wires, and check packaging for information on how many strings can be linked together. It's usually no more than three. Don't decorate indoor trees with lit candles.

"A lot of the fire deaths we have are preventable," she said. "It takes just a little more effort and paying attention."