PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — 'Tis the season to decorate your home, but unfortunately, local fire officials see a spike in fires over the holidays. As you pull out decorations and other items you haven't seen since last year, here’s advice on how to keep your home safe over the next few weeks.
Charles Johnson, deputy chief of the Philadelphia Fire Department's Fire Prevention Division, encourages you to double check those extension cords before you put them in use.
"You want to make sure it is the right gauge for the equipment that is being used. Make sure there is no breaking or fraying. If so, throw it out and get a new one. Do not tack it down. And you do not want to run it under carpets,” Johnson said.
Washington Township firefighter and fire prevention coordinator Adam Seczech said with holiday lights, you want to be looking for nicks in the wire.
"You also don't want to overload your circuits. We see extension cords all over the place, multiple cords plugged into one surge protector. That will make it fail and cause a fire. We have had that happen with surge protectors where the circuit got overloaded and melted. We lost an entire apartment building one time because of a surge protector,” Seczech said.
Both say if you are getting a live Christmas tree to make sure it is fresh and keep watering it to prevent it from drying out.