Cold Alabama nights over Christmas call for safety focus

It won’t be a white Christmas in Alabama this year, but it will feel like winter over the holiday weekend.

Temperatures are forecast to dip into the 20s overnight on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as far south as Mobile, and are expected to drop into the teens in north Alabama. Below-freezing temperatures are also forecast overnight on Saturday, Dec. 26, across the northern half of the state.

Alabamians should keep safety in mind this chilly weekend, especially with the pandemic-affected holidays leading many people to stay close to home.

Indeed, home heating is one of the leading causes of residential fires, according to the American Red Cross. Nearly half of U.S. families use space heaters, fireplaces, or wood or coal stoves to stay warm.

The Red Cross offers the following safety tips:

• Never use a cooking range or oven to heat your home.
• Keep potential fuel sources such as paper, clothing, bedding, curtains or rugs at least 3 feet away from space heaters, stoves or fireplaces. Never leave portable heaters or fireplaces unattended. Turn off space heaters and make sure any fireplace embers are extinguished before going to bed or leaving home.
• Keep space heaters on a level, hard and nonflammable surface (such as ceramic tile floor), not on rugs or carpets or near bedding or drapes. Keep children and pets away from space heaters.
• Keep fire in your fireplace by using a glass or metal fire screen large enough to catch sparks and rolling logs.

Speaking of home fires, the kitchen is a traditional gathering place for the holidays. It’s also one of the more dangerous places in the home. Cooking equipment – most notably stovetops and ovens – is the nation’s leading cause of home fires and injuries, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Here are some tips for staying safe in the kitchen this holiday season:

• The leading cause of kitchen fires is unattended cooking, so stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling or baking.
• Protect children from scalds and burns. Keep children away from cooking areas by enforcing a “kid-free zone” of 3 feet around the stove.
• Choose the right equipment and use it properly. Plug microwave ovens and other appliances directly into an outlet. Never use an extension cord for a cooking appliance, which can overload the circuit and cause a fire.
• Keep anything that can catch fire – potholders, oven mitts, wooden utensils, paper and plastic bags, food packaging, towels or curtains – away from the stovetop. Wear short, close-fitting or tightly rolled sleeves when cooking.
• Avoid using deep-fat turkey fryers. If you use one, keep it at a safe distance from buildings and other items that can catch fire. Never use a turkey fryer in a garage or on a wooden deck. Watch the fryer carefully, as the oil will continue to heat until it catches fire. Don’t overfill the fryer.
• Prevent hot spills by using the back burners when possible and turning pot handles away from the stove edge. Use oven mitts or potholders when moving hot food from an oven, microwave or stovetop.

Finally, a fire safety tip for all seasons: have a fire escape plan and ensure all household members know two ways to escape from every room of your home. Set up a meeting place outside in case of fire. Practice escaping from your home at least twice a year and at different times of the day. Teach household members to stop, drop and roll if their clothing catches on fire.

Find more home heating and fire safety tips at the National Safety Council website.

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)