During the month of December, the Monmouth Fire Department participates in the ‘Keep the Wreath Red’ campaign to raise awareness of home fire safety during the holidays, as this time of the year contains the top three days of home fires, reports Chief Casey Rexroat:
“Most fires are started in the kitchen because that is where everybody is doing the cooking and there are a lot of hot things in the kitchen. If you leave that unattended or if there is a malfunction on the stove or if something falls off, most fires start in the kitchen, that is the number one room in the house. Oddly enough, Thanksgiving is the number one day for home fires and right behind that is Christmas Eve and Christmas. Aside from the cooking, what we worry about this time of the year is the heating equipment and people using space heaters. We just want to remind people to be careful and don’t use alternate sources of heat that aren’t approved to be used. Space heaters are okay as long as you are using them responsibly, you aren’t running cords underneath rugs, you aren’t overloading circuits with multiple space heaters, you are not using the oven or using garage type heaters to heat the home, which is a big no. Those are not supposed to be inside your house.”
If your furnace does happen to quit working, Chief Rexroat recommends calling a professional.
