ALLENTOWN, Pa. – According to the American Red Cross, cooking and home heating are two of the leading causes of home fires.
And now, with temperatures starting to dip down at night, experts want to remind you how to heat your home safely.
As temperatures go down outside and tick up inside, local fire departments see an increase in calls.
“You can usually tell when most people are turning on their heat ‘cause we start running what gets called in as a house fire, but it’s usually a poor burning furnace. It’s producing a lot of black smoke, and then we also start with the carbon monoxide calls,” Capt. Jonathan Hammel, Capt. Of Public Affairs, Allentown Fire Department.
Captain Hammel says as you turn on your heat, you should also make sure you have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
“Right along with heating season, it’s a good time of year to check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, make sure they’re in working order,” Capt. Hammel says.
Experts say another part of heating your home the right way is being proactive.
“Part of having a working heating system is to have it serviced on a regular basis,” says Capt. Hammel.
Specialists at Jack Lehr Heating Cooling and Electric say getting your appliances checked regularly can save you a lot of trouble and, most importantly, keep you and your family safe.
“If you do have gas-fired appliances, you wanna make sure that anything on the outsides are clear [and] there’s no debris, dirt, anything away from them. You wanna make sure all of your carbon monoxide detectors, your smoke detectors are up to date, have the batteries in them, that you’ve checked them. Make sure that your filters have been changed in your units. A lot of the time, that can be an issue with it, and just make sure that everything has been upkept,” says Colt Solliday, Comfort Adviser at Jack Lehr Heating Cooling and Electric.
Most heating systems should be serviced one to two times a year, depending on what kind you have, and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors should be tested monthly.