Firefighters offer home heating safety tips after recent house fires

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Henrico firefighters blame heating devices for two of their latest house fire calls and have issued some home heating safety reminders to help avoid more tragedies.

“Our last two working fires we’ve had here in Henrico County have been accidental fires, but we’ve been able to link it back to home heating safety,” Henrico Fire Battalion Chief Doug Reynolds said.

He said those fires were sparked by an under floor furnace that had a problem and embers from a fireplace.

“The safest way to heat your house would be with your central heating system,” Reynolds said. “But keep your filters clean.”

“It’s usually when you go to alternative heating devices where we see people run into the biggest troubles,” Reynolds added. “For a lot of these older homes in Richmond, you know, you need a little extra help to keep them warm.”

He advises not leaving portable space heaters running overnight and to never plug an electric heater into an extension cord.

“Electricity flows through that cord just like water does through a garden hose,” Reynolds said.

He also warned never to put kerosene heaters in a hallway or exit way.

“Because if that catches fire, it can block your way out of the house,” Reynolds said.

Be mindful of how hot some of these devices can get and do not leave children unattended around them.

Reynolds demonstrated his point by using a thermal imaging camera pointed at a kerosene heater.

“This kerosene heater is producing over 500 degrees-worth of heat,” he said.

“You have to be really careful if you have small children in the house and they get curious, come over and put their hands on it, they can get burned,” Reynolds said. “Same with the electric space heaters, kerosene heaters, a fireplace, an insert, you know, they touch those things - they are extremely hot – so we want to make sure we don’t have any burn injuries.”

Reynolds says keep heat devices away from anything combustible.

“The biggest thing when you use an electric space heater, a kerosene heater, any of those portable ones like that is that you always want to make sure that you give yourself 36 inches of clearance,” he said. “So get that yardstick and use it as a measure from your wall, from furniture, from toys, bedding.”

It is not recommended to heat your home with an open stove.

As for wood-burning heat sources like a fireplace or insert, Reynolds says to use seasoned hardwood and never burn trash. Put ashes in a metal container and drown them before you dump them.

It is also wise to have a working carbon monoxide detector.

“Make sure have those working smoke detectors, clearance around all your heating devices and just please be careful,” Reynolds said.