Christmas Safety

Here are some tips from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety on how to keep your home safe and looking beautiful during the holiday season!

Christmas Trees

• Live trees should be fresh. Buy a tree that is green and the needles are hard to pull from the branches. Fresh trees have trunk butts that are sticky with resin.
• Place trees away from fireplaces, radiators, other heating sources, heavy foot traffic, and doorways.
• Keep live trees watered to help prevent them from drying out, which increases the susceptibility to fires.
• Artificial trees should be labeled by the manufacturer as fire-resistant.

Outdoor Lights

• Use only lights with fused plugs, that have been certified for use outdoors, and that have been tested for safety by a recognized testing laboratory.
• Check for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections, and throw out damaged sets.
• Always replace burned-out bulbs promptly with the same wattage bulbs.
• Use no more than three standard-size sets of lights per single extension cord. Make sure the extension cord is rated for the intended use.
• Stay away from power or feeder lines leading from utility poles into older homes.
• Fasten outdoor lights securely to trees, house walls, or other firm supports to protect the lights from wind damage. Use only insulated staples to hold strings in place, not nails or tacks. Or, run strings of lights through hooks.
• Turn off all holiday lights when you go to bed or leave the house.
• Use caution when removing outdoor holiday lights. Never pull or tug on lights – they could unravel and inadvertently wrap around power lines.
• Outdoor electric lights and decorations should be plugged into circuits protected by ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs).