Costumes out, pumpkins on the step, every light in the house on. Halloween is the one night of the year when your home is full of open flames, paper decorations and small children in flammable fabric at the same time. None of that is a problem if you take ten minutes before the doorbell starts. Here is the ten minutes. Do you know which of the decorations you lit is closest to something that can burn?
Go flameless where you can
The simplest fire precaution you can take is to remove the flame. Battery LED candles give you the same glow inside a jack-o'-lantern or along a window, with nothing to tip over and nothing to catch a sleeve. They are the right choice for anything a child can reach.
Pick costumes that will not flash over
Choose fire-resistant materials over anything loose and flowing. If the costume has a cape, skirt or wide sleeves, make sure it cannot trail into a candle, a torch or the pumpkin you just carved. Trim and test it before the night, not during it.
Keep decorations away from heat
Paper, fabric and plastic decorations belong well clear of candles, light bulbs and space heaters. Give every ignition source clear space, and keep draperies and window treatments out of the line of heat as well.
If you burn real candles
Never leave a burning candle unattended, not even in a closed pumpkin. Use a holder with a glass or metal enclosure so the flame cannot reach what is around it. Keep candles out of reach of children and pets, on a stable surface. Put them out before you answer the door for the last time.
Keep the way out clear
Decorations, prop boxes and costume bags pile up in hallways and on stairs. Clear the exits before guests arrive so nobody has to route around clutter if the alarm goes off. Doorways, hallways and staircases stay empty.
Check the alarms and the extinguisher
Test every smoke alarm before Halloween night and replace any battery that is low. Everyone in the house should know what the alarm sounds like and where they are going if it goes off. Keep a working extinguisher somewhere you can reach it without walking through the decorations, and make sure someone old enough to use it knows how.
Talk to the children about not playing with open flames, and about what a loose costume does near one. It takes one sentence and it lands.
Have a good night, safely
Dress up, decorate, carve the pumpkins, enjoy it. Fire damage restoration across Connecticut is what we do when the prevention part slips, but we would rather you had the fun without us. If something does go wrong, JP Maguire secures the property, limits the damage, recovers what can be saved and restores it to its pre-loss condition. Call 877-576-2484, 24 hours a day.
Where to go from here
If this is happening in your house right now, these are the pages Connecticut homeowners reach for, each one saying what the work involves and how to get a crew rolling: water damage restoration. Water extraction, drying, then the rebuild. fire damage restoration. Soot, smoke odour, and putting the rooms back. mold remediation. Finding it, containing it, and removing it properly. storm damage restoration. Wind damage, fallen trees, emergency tarping. burst pipe repair. Stopping the leak, then repairing what it reached. 24/7 emergency restoration. A person on the phone, any hour of the night.
Also from the blog: Candles, Not Just Trees, the Overlooked Cause of December House Fires, Fire Safety After a House Fire, What to Do in the First 24 Hours and More on fire damage restoration.