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Morden: Treat fire with respect

December 21, 2016   ·   0 Comments

“We ask everybody to treat fire with respect,” says Orangeville Fire Chief Ron Morden, when celebrating the Christmas season.

Christmas is just around the corner, but all that holiday cheer and celebration comes with fire hazards that can put a damper on that Christmas spirit.

Candles, Christmas trees, decorative lights, fireplaces and festive cooking are amongst the dangerous fire hazards that can not only cause damage to homes, but can be fatal.

Chief Morden says careless cooking is the number-one cause of home fires and the number-two cause of fatal fires, and suggests when you leave the room, to turn off the stove.

“Most of these fires start because pots and pans are left unattended, because there are usually conversations going on within the house and people leave the kitchen for a period of time and accidents can happen.”

He also advises to “keep candles or flames from fireplaces away from combustible material and to never leave them unattended,” as according to the Fire Department’s Facebook page, every year candles cause 10,000 fire homes, half of them in December.

Chief Morden says to always be alert of your surroundings, especially with open flames and cooking, to have a responsible person around, as people can get distracted by the holiday cheer.

“When people have friends and family to their homes and possibly staying overnight, that we want to make sure that we have working smoke and CO alarms in our house, so they should be tested, and to advise visitors of your home escape plan.”

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