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Be Warm, Be Safe

By Staff | Dec 16, 2009

Just a few weeks ago we printed tips for keeping safe during this winter season when various forms of heating are in use.

Last year our area experienced fatalities thanks to faulty heating devices and inadequate ventilation. While we haven’t seen a death for that reason this year, our area did experience two fires in the past week.

One was attributed to a wood stove and the other is still undetermined. Thankfully no one was hurt, but one man was badly burned and both homes were total losses.

We urge everyone to please make sure your methods of staying warm are safe. Heating equipment fires rank second only to cooking fires in terms of frequency in West Virginia last year.

There are various tips to follow for safe use of space heaters. One of them is to make sure they are situated at least three feet away from anything that can burn.

For information on how to make sure your home or camp is safe, go to www.nfpa.org, www.usfa.dhs.gov, www.homesafetycoundil.org, or www.nmfd.org.