This time of year, there are more home fires than any other time of the year, so home safety is especially important. Most of the fires are due to home heating devices. Burning wood, natural gas, kerosene, and other fuels also produces carbon monoxide. Unless fireplaces, wood and gas stoves, and gas appliances are properly vented, cleaned, and used, they can leak dangerous amounts of carbon monoxide and also are fire hazards.  Since older adults are three times more likely to die or be injured in a home fire than those who are younger, I wanted to share some simple tips on things that older adults can do to protect themselves this winter.

MOST IMPORTANT: HAVE AN ESCAPE ROUTE/PLAN TO FOLLOW IF YOUR HOUSE DOES CATCH ON FIRE.  Run through the plan at least once a month to identify any problems that could prevent a safe escape.

There are some other tips you should always follow. You should:

• Have fireplaces and wood stove chimneys and flues inspected yearly and cleaned when necessary. (Ask your local fire department to recommend an inspector or look in the telephone book under "chimney cleaning")
• Put a smoke detector and battery-operated carbon monoxide detector in areas where you use fireplaces, wood stoves, or kerosene heaters.
• Open a window - just a crack will do - when using a kerosene stove.
• Make sure space heaters are at least 3 feet away from anything that might catch fire (such as curtains, bedding and furniture).
• Keep a fire extinguisher that can be used for a variety of types of fires (including chemical fires) in areas where you use fireplaces, wood stoves and kerosene heaters.
• Never try to heat your home using a gas stove, charcoal grill, or other stove not made for home heating.

If the older adult has a space heater, review the following tips to increase the safety of this device in the home:

• Make sure your space heater has been approved by a recognized testing laboratory.
• Choose the right size heater for the space you are heating.
• Keep substances that can catch fire like paint, pets, clothing, towels, curtains, and papers away from the heating element.
• Keep the door to the rest of the house open for good air flow.
• Turn the heater off when you leave the room or go to bed.
• Make sure your smoke alarms are working.
• Put a carbon monoxide detector near where people sleep.
• Keep the right type of fire extinguisher nearby.

For any disaster planning (including that to encourage home safety), an excellent reference is The Hartford and the MIT booklet “It Could Happen to ME; Family Conversations about Disaster Planning”.