Cold weather has arrived and the Plainfield Fire Protection District is urging everyone to follow these home
heating fire safety tips to prevent a home heating fire:
• Keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet away from heating equipment including furnaces,
fireplaces, wood stoves and portable space heaters.
• Teach children to stay at least 3 feet away from fireplaces, wood/pellet stoves, oil stoves and
space heaters.
• Always follow manufacturer’s instructions for safe and proper use of heating equipment.
• Never use your oven or range to heat your home, doing this is a safety hazard and can be a
source of potentially toxic fumes.
• Have your furnace inspected annually by a qualified professional.
• Have your fireplace or wood stove chimney inspected and cleaned annually by a qualified
professional.
• Don’t use flammable liquids to start or accelerate a fire.
• Dispose of ashes, once cooled, in a metal container with a lid and keep it at least 10 feet away
from your home or other nearby buildings.
• Only plug portable space heaters directly into an outlet, not an extension cord.
• If you experience frozen water pipes do not try to thaw them with a blow torch or other open
flame, doing so can conduct heat and start a fire inside the wall. Use hot water or a hand held
dryer for thawing.
In addition to the above steps make sure you have tested your home’s smoke alarms and carbon monoxide
detectors and made sure they are working. For more information about home heating fire safety you may
call us at 815-436-5335 ext. 7314 or visit our web site at plainfieldfpd.com for links to more information and
home fire safety checklists.