Preventing Electrical Fires While Decorating Your Home for the Holidays

12/11/2017 (Permalink)

We love the lights but stay safe this Christmas, Brunswick!

Christmas is one of the best holidays. The lights and decorations create such a wonderful atmosphere for everyone to enjoy. Decorating your household during the holidays is one of the great American pastimes. Families filling their neighborhoods with Christmas decorations is something we look forward to every year.

However, using these lights sometimes can create a safety hazard if not done properly. Fortunately, we here at SERVPRO of Brunswick have a couple of tips that will help you prevent dangerous electrical fires from happening when you plan to decorate. Here are the tips that’ll keep your family safe, as well as prevent any costly fire damage from happening to your home.

Only Use Certified Decorations

This one tip can be deceiving from the start but has huge ramifications if not noticed before it’s too late. While there are dozens of Christmas lights for sale during the winter time, make sure that you only use lights that state somewhere on the package that national laboratories have approved them for fire safety purposes. Take your time when shopping and pick the right lights to ensure that you’re avoiding fire damage in the event of an accident.

Avoid Overloading Surge Protectors

Let’s imagine for a second that you’ve bought dozens of Christmas lights and you’re getting ready to set them up for decoration. You have a couple of surge protectors ready, and you’re getting ready to plug almost all the lights on them to save space. Before you do this, wait! Overloading a surge protector can be incredibly dangerous and cause serious fire damage hazards. If the lights are left on constantly, it will create volatile conditions for the lights to potentially catch fire. Make sure you don’t overload your surge protectors and space out your lights If possible.

Don’t Leave the Lights On

Finally, one of the most important tips that will help ensure the safety of your family overnight. While you may want to have the ambient light of your Christmas tree illuminating down the hallway, please don’t! Whatever you do this holiday season, make sure not to leave the lights on overnight. This is an incredibly dangerous habit to have, as your chances of an electrical fire skyrocket exponentially. There is no need to leave lights on overnight, so make sure to unplug them before going to bed at night to avoid any type of electrical fire.