How to Prevent Christmas Light Fires
It’s almost Christmastime and everyone likes to decorate at least a month early and use tons of lights. Some even have a beautiful light display that many will drive by to see. One thing that crosses many peoples’ minds is how much the electricity costs for the Christmas season or how do they keep from having a fire with as many lights as they use.
Just note that because there is always a fire risk, you also need to ensure you have the proper fire alarm installed in your home so you and your family receive early warning that there is a problem.
Christmas Light Safety
If you are one of those individuals that like to decorate with lots and lots of lights, there are many things that you can do to prevent an electrical fire. If you forget to turn your lights off and are away from home, there are a few ways that you can turn them off right from your smart phone.
Christmas lights
- When shopping for lights make sure you read the labels correctly. Putting inside lights outside can become dangerous and cause electrical shock.
- If you have lights from the previous Christmas, you want to check all the bulbs and the extension cord that they come on. If either is damaged don’t use them. Damaged cords can become overheated and cause a fire.
- Its always a good idea to save the extra bulbs that come with the string of lights so if one bulb needs replacing you are using the same exact light bulb for that string. Using a light bulb with a different wattage can be dangerous.
- When hanging lights on the tree, inside or outside, make sure that you connect no more than three strands of lights together. Connecting more could cause a fire because of overheating.
- Extension cords should not become overloaded with lights. When purchasing an extension cord, make sure you know how much wattage you are going to be connecting to it. Overloading the cord with more wattage than recommended can cause an electrical fire.
Turning your lights on and off
- Make sure you turn off your tree lights, lights outside, or any Christmas lights used for decorating before you go to bed or before leaving your house. If there is ever a time that you forget, you can call a neighbor.
- If it becomes a repeated thing, you might want to invest in smartphone outlet plugs. These are plugs that you get for your house that you can plug the tree lights, outside/inside lights to. Once you have purchased the plug, you download the app that is connected to the plug. Follow the instructions in the app and you are good to go.
Security System Fire Alarm Company Rochester
If you have any additional questions regarding a home fire alarm Rochester residents trust in their homes during the holiday season and throughout the entire year, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 585-770-0348.
