Sitting in front of a cozy fire is a great way to spend cold fall and winter evenings as a family. However, it’s important to make sure everyone in your family, including your kids, knows about fireplace safety. This helps reduce the risk of dangerous chimney fires. Keep the following safety tips in mind, so you and your whole family can enjoy your fireplace.
Teach Kids How to Safely Use Your Fireplace
Before using your fireplace, you should go over chimney safety tips with your kids. For example, teach them not to go near the fireplace while a fire is burning, so that they won’t be burned. You should also make sure you teach your kids not to put anything in the fireplace whether or not it’s in use. Showing kids how to safely use a fireplace helps them understand how important it is to prevent the risk of fires and burns. For added safety, make sure you install a safety screen, which helps reduce the risk of burns if kids touch fireplace glass. These screens can also help prevent stray embers from flying out of the fireplace and onto carpeting or other flammable surfaces.
Make Sure Any Fire Is Supervised by an Adult
Whenever you have a fire going in your fireplace, you should always have an adult in the room. Don’t leave your kids in a room without adult supervision in case a chimney fire occurs. Having an adult in the room can also help prevent kids from doing anything dangerous that could lead to a chimney fire or injuries, such as burns. You should plan to have an adult supervise your fireplace until the fire has completely burned out.
Set a Good Example Through Your Own Habits
Your kids learn from watching you, so it’s important to show them good fire safety practices through your own habits. You should keep a safe distance from the fire and only burn dry, well-aged wood in it to help reduce the risk of smoke and soot buildup. Scheduling chimney cleanings on a regular basis is also an important habit to get into in order to keep your fireplace as safe as possible.
Come Up With a Family Plan in Case of a Fire
Even when you take steps to prevent fires from occurring, they can still happen for numerous reasons. It’s crucial to come up with a family fire plan that everyone knows about and follows. For example, your plan should include where all family members should go in order to get out of the house safely in case of a fire. You might never have to use this plan, but it can help save lives if you do have a fire. To make sure that all family members are familiar with your fire plan, get into the habit of having a family fire drill. During these drills, you can practice what to do and what not to do if there’s a fire in your home.
