American Red Cross offers tips to avoid house fires during peak season
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - It’s an active fire season for the river region. Just in January, the American Red Cross says it helped close to 100 people impacted by fires, and that’s just on the Georgia side.
We also saw a rash of fires in three counties, all in a couple of days.
The latest one, Tuesday night at 2107 15th Ave. in the Dogwood Terrace neighborhood, displaced a family.
That happened a day after three fires on Monday: on Moore Road, on Silverdale Road and on Columbia Road.
“One of the best things that people can do is avoid a home fire before it happens,” said Susan Everitt, American Red Cross east-central Georgia executive director.
Although fire season is at a destructive pace in the CSRA, all of the communities within the Augusta Housing Authority have been able to avoid these fires thanks to contingency plans with the American Red Cross.
Douglas Freeman, deputy executive director, Housing Authority of the city of Augusta said: “The longer-term for us would be identifying a property that we could transfer them over to, in addition, we work with the Red Cross.”
The Red Cross has identified some of the leading culprits for household fire starters: heaters left on close to combustible materials, neglected kitchen spaces, and cigarettes in bedrooms.
Everitt said: “Home fires really are just prevalent, you know, and it seems like they have just increased, year after year, after year.”
The increasing danger has not stopped them from providing a variety of resources to people in need.
“It can be things such as finding a long-term housing assistance, it can be helping with their medical issues, replacing prescriptions, replacing eyeglasses, and certainly some mental health as well,” said Everitt. “So while we hate that they’re happening, you know, we’re glad that we’re able to help people in their hour of need.”
For more information on fire safety and resources, visit the American Red Cross website.
Quick tips
- Keep space heaters at least three feet from anything flammable, plug them directly into an outlet or UL-certified power strip, and make sure they have an auto-shutoff if they tip over. Never use your oven to heat your home.
- Keep alternative heating sources prepared. If you have a fireplace, store a good supply of dry, seasoned wood. Keep fire extinguishers on hand, and make sure your family knows how to use them. Properly vent kerosene heaters to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. Also, do not burn charcoal indoors. Carbon monoxide poisoning can result from charcoal fumes indoors.
- Have your fireplace or wood stove chimney and chimney connectors inspected and cleaned at the start of the heating season.
- Do not plug heating equipment into extension cords. This can lead to overheating of the cord, damage to the appliance, and increased risk of fire or electric shock.
- Move anything that can burn at least 3 feet from your heater, fireplace, or wood stove. Fifty-four percent of home heating fire deaths were caused by having heating equipment too close to things that can burn.
- Keep your children and pets safely away from your portable or space heater.
- Turn off your portable or space heater before leaving the room.
- Never use your oven to heat your home.
- Put generators outside and close nearby windows
- Use flashlights not candles when power goes out
- Check that smoke alarms are working
- Sleep with bedroom doors closed
- Make sure windows can open and are unobstructed
Copyright 2022 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.