Fire department provides fire safety tips for the holiday season
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Boone County Fire Protection District says they have seen multiple house fires this holiday season caused by cooking fires.
Gale Blomenkamp from the Boone County Fire Protection District said, nationally, cooking fires are the leading cause of residential structure fires around this time of year.
“The most common thing that we see this time of year is cooking fires, so the leading cause of residential structure fires in Boone county as well as the entire nation," said Blomenkamp.
The reason for seeing more cooking fires during this time is because people are distracted by other things going on in their household during the holiday.
"This time of year you know people can be distracted and that’s what we really boil it down to is distracted cooking, not necessarily unintended. More people in the home, potentially more family around, more action, more traffic, more everything so people really need to stop and focus. When it’s time to cook they should be cooking, when it’s time to not be cooking that’s when they need to make sure everything is off. So people just really need to pay attention and not get distracted," said Blowmenkamp.
Blowmenkamp said the department reports to fires caused by Christmas trees as well. He said it is important to keep real Christmas trees watered daily, and not to position them near an exit in case of a fire. Christmas trees tend to catch fire and burn quickly inside of homes.
During the winter season, people tend to use their fireplace and other heating sources frequently. Blowmenkamp says it's important to keep an eye on the Carbon Monoxide and CO detectors with homes while using other heating sources.
“People should pay attention when they’re running their fire places or alternative heat sources, so if you don’t have a CO detector or a carbon monoxide detector for your home, any time you have any gas fired appliances, carbon monoxide detector on every level of the house is what we recommend, and if you have any questions or any concerns or that thing goes off, never hesitate to call 911. Firefighters are on duty 24/7 just like the ambulance if you have a medical emergency, use that number for a true emergency and let us come and check it out," said Blomenkamp
The fire department will be on high alert for the upcoming New Year holiday for drunk drivers. The department asks that people find a designated driver, stay home, or stay at their destination overnight if they are planning on drinking for the holiday. The department also wants to make people aware of the possibility of inclement weather.
“New Years related is the drinking and driving thing. People going out and partying and staying in and partying. If you’re going to do that stay where you’re out. Either get a designated driver if you’re going out or if you’re going to a friends house just plan on spending the evening there until the next day when you’re sober to drive home that’s really what we try to stress over the New Years holiday, and again it could be a weather-related event. Anytime between now and the end of March when it starts to warm back up so people need to be aware of the weather know what's going on," said Blowmenkamp.
The high winds, dry land, and cold temperatures don't create the best setting for outside burning. Blowmenkamp said, "We’re going to have some dry days coming up, so outside burning is going to be questionable at times throughout this winter so better dormant right now, so some people need to pay attention if they are going to be doing any outside burning as well."
The department wants to keep the county safe throughout the remainder of the holiday season and into the winter season. They ask that the public follows these safety tips and reach out if help is needed.
