Halloween is this Friday, as you celebrate with costume parties and trick or treating, The Plainfield Fire
Protection District has some Halloween fire safety tips to keep your holiday celebration enjoyable:
• Avoid costumes with billowing or long trailing fabric and make sure eye holes on masks are large
enough to see out.
• Advise children to stay away from open flames (candles, touches, fire pits, etc.) and make sure they
know how to stop, drop and roll if their clothing catches on fire by stopping immediately, dropping
to the ground, covering their face with their hands, and rolling over and over to put the fire out.
• Have children carry flashlights or glow sticks while trick or treating.
• When decorating with cornstalks and crepe paper remember to keep them and other decorations
away from open flames such as candles, and heat sources like light bulbs and heaters.
• The safest way to light your jack-o-lantern is with a flashlight or battery operated candle.  If you do
use a candle in your jack-o-lantern please keep it away from anything that will burn such as curtains
or other decorations, and locate it so it will not be near children trick or treating, doorsteps,
walkways and yards.
• Consider using flashlights as alternatives to candles or torch lights when decorating walkways and
yards.  The concern is for children who may get too close to an open flame and whose costume may
brush against it.
• Always keep your exits clear of decorations so if there is a fire they do not block your escape route.
• When attending parties at others’ homes check for ways out of the home in the event of a fire and
plan how you would get out.  Teach children to plan this way as well.
The Plainfield Fire Protection District would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween.  For more
information about fire and life safety please visit our web site at www.plainfieldfpd.com or you may call us
at 815-436-5335 ext. 7314.  You may also visit the National Fire Protection Association’s Halloween Safety
web site at http://sparky.org/parentpage/parents.htm.  ###