Home owners need to know a few things about staying safe during the big freeze.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell held a press briefing Wednesday to update residents on staying safe while weathering the cold snap.
New Orleans Fire Chief Roman Nelson led off by advising residents to be careful with space heaters and keeping your home warm.
“Make sure your smoke alarm is working. Test it right now, test it today, if it’s not working, you have time while you’re out getting pipe insulation you can get a new smoke alarm you can get batteries if your smoke alarm needs it. There’s still time to do that,” Nelson urges. “Test your carbon monoxide detector. Make sure it’s working.”
When it came to space heaters, Chief Nelson also urged safety during their use:
“When keeping warm becomes critical, people use all kinds of devices. Only use heating devices that are rated, that are UL listed, and that are designed to be used indoors. With space heaters, as we always talk about, make sure that they’re three feet away from any flammables or combustibles.”
When it comes to water, Sewerage and Water Board Director Ghassan Korban took to the microphone out line what to do keep the pipes in your home safe.
“Anything at you see wrap with any material that you can find. Make sure if it’s cloth, newspaper, or whatever, wrap them with plastic or aluminum foil to keep the pipes dry. This is very, very key.”
For residents who decide to run water to keep the pipes from freezing, Korban had this advice as well:
“We ask you to limit that running water to one faucet. And preferably the farthest faucet from the meter or from the street—that is very important. What’s also important is we don’t want you to open it full blast. There’s no need for that. All you need is to run a thin, we’re going to call it a spaghetti thin trickle.”
The Freeze of 2022 is expected to get here tonight. With Friday temperatures dipping into the teens and 20s.
