PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — There have been a number of fires in Philadelphia during this holiday season, and they were only made worse by the frigid conditions that blew through the weekend of Christmas.
A fire spread to three homes in Wissinoming on Tuesday, displacing at least 12 people.
Within the last week, between Dec. 20 and 27, there were 40 fires across the city. A third of them took place just over the three-day holiday weekend alone. In comparison, fire crews reported 29 fires during this same time last month, which includes Thanksgiving.
Gustav Baumann, Philadelphia Fire Department chief of fire prevention, said there are several ways that weather can exacerbate a blaze. For starters, the extreme cold makes it harder for firefighters to put out the flames.
“The winds were heavy, and when we have wind-driven fire, that wind blows the flame … toward other structures on either side of a house,” he explained. “That makes things a little bit more difficult for us and it increases the chances of extension of a fire.”
All of the fires that have sparked over the last week are still under investigation, Baumann said, though the weather will most likely be a significant component.
“When the temperatures are low, people have to put their heating on. Everyone doesn’t necessarily have the best functioning heater, and some don’t have heaters that function at all, so they’re forced to use space heaters,” he added.
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Another culprit at this time of year is an electrical overload.
Many houses in the city are old, some dating back to the early 1900s. However, even ones that were made 60 years ago may also be outdated when it comes to wiring and other maintenance.
“It’s behind the wall. We don’t see it. And so therefore, we don’t know what happens to it,” Baumann said. “It gets old and frayed. But more importantly, it gets overloaded — many of these homes were built when there were no refrigerators, washers and dryers, cellphones, tablets, iPads.”
As for Christmas trees, he advised removing live ones as soon as possible. If it is dry, do not light the string lights on it or plug anything in near it. While it may have only been sitting adjacent to the mantle for the last two weeks, that tree could have been cut down as long as a month ago, or more.
Baumann said residents should also make sure smoke alarms are working properly, and only plug a space heater into one outlet, not a surge protector or extension cord.
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