Home Heating Fire Safety

The Grand Junction Fire Department would like to remind citizens to check and maintain their home heating equipment. Heating equipment is a leading cause of home fires during the months of December, January and February, and trails only cooking equipment in home fires year-round.

All types of common space heating equipment are involved in home fires: portable electric heaters, portable kerosene heaters, wood stoves, fireplaces with inserts and room gas heaters.

Common causes of space heating home fires are: lack of regular cleaning, leading to creosote build-up, in wood-burning devices and associated chimneys and connectors; failing to give space heaters space, by installing or placing them too close to combustibles; basic flaws in the construction or design of wood burning heating equipment; and fueling errors involving liquid- or gas-fueled heating equipment.

The Grand Junction Fire Department Recommends These Safety Tips:

• When buying a new unit, make sure that a qualified technician installs the unit or checks that the unit has been installed properly.
• For wood or coal stoves or fireplaces, have a professional inspect the chimney, chimney connector and other related equipment every year, and have them cleaned as often as the inspections indicate.
• Keep space heaters at least three feet (or one meter) away from anything that can burn.
• Fuel portable kerosene heaters in a well-ventilated area away from flames or other heat sources, and only when the device has cooled completely. Use only the type of kerosene specified by the manufacturer, and never use gasoline. Use only if such heaters are legal in your community.
• When turning a heating device on or off, follow the manufacturer's instructions. When buying heaters, choose devices with automatic shut-off features.
• Make sure any gas-fueled heating device is adequately ventilated. Unventilated gas space heaters in bedrooms or bathrooms must be small and well-mounted. Never use liquefied-petroleum gas heaters with self-contained fuel supplies in the home.
• Portable space heaters should be turned off every time you leave a room or go to bed.
• Install and maintain CO detectors; one on every level of the home, to include near sleeping areas. A CO detector should have a digital readout, a reset/test button, and be UL tested.
• Fireplace ashes are a common source of heat which causes fires. When removed from the fireplace or wood stove, you should place the ashes in a metal container with a tightly covered metal lid. Keep the container away the house and away from combustibles outside and don’t put the container on a combustible surface such as wood flooring on a deck. It takes a minimum of 2-3 days for the ashes to cool to a point where they are safe to discard and even then you should check the ashes by feeling the outside of the container for heat. Ashes are great for certain plants so recycle them in and around your garden after they have completely cooled. Check to make sure there are no smoldering embers left when you spread the ashes out.

Have a safe and warm winter!