The Putnam County Fire Department wants you to keep safety in mind when using portable heaters.
Assistant Fire Chief Wayne Globerger said the department has responded to a number of heater-related calls over the past few days.
“When we hit a cold snap, a majority of our calls are usually because of space heaters and other devices that people are trying to use to stay warm,” Globerger said. “The biggest things we are seeing are faulty space heaters where people are putting them in locations too close to flammables.”
Heating equipment should be kept at least three feet away from flammable objects, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Globerger said another concern is potential carbon monoxide poisoning when people use heaters that require fuel.
“You don’t want to use anything that burns fuel inside your house because you’re going to get an issue with carbon monoxide,” Globerger said. “Any kind of combustion is going to give you carbon monoxide and if your house isn’t vented well it can be fatal if the levels are high enough.”
The department also cautions against using older heaters and ones that haven’t been used in a while.
“The newer ones will shut off if you tip them over, but sometimes we see a lot of older ones that haven’t been used for years and years, because fortunately we don’t have to use them that often,” Globerger said, “so they pull it out of the closet, put it together, and sometimes it lights up from all the dust on it.”
Globerger said the best way to stay safe is to make sure smoke alarms are working and properly installed.
“If there’s an issue, that smoke detector is going to give you a lot of notice that something is going on,” Globerger said. “You can call the fire department if you have a problem with a smoke detector or need a smoke detector.”
Globerger said the department has averaged about three to four heater-related calls over the past few days.
