The welcome chill of autumn is upon us, which means rummaging through drawers for matches, failed guesses at whether the chimney flue is open and the first burnings of furnaces and space heaters.
Then it will be the season for fires, the good kind and the bad.
The good kind barely needs to be defined: The finger of flame on the candle, the cozy glow in the fireplace or the oven’s pilot light during a cookie-baking Saturday. Those we can live with. But all good fires come with dangers that many of us underestimate or forget.
In the first chills of the year, the towel left to dry on top of the space heater ignites, or the candle sets the curtain ablaze.
Then things quiet down, as if people have grown accustomed to being cautious with heat and flame.
With that in mind, we offer you this guide to hot products and flameproof tips to keep your autumn safe and glowing and warm.
Artful extinguisher
Kitchen fires are responsible for about a third of all home fires. So it makes sense to have a kitchen fire extinguisher, right? HomeHero, a new line by The Home Depot, had safety in mind when it came up with a sleek white extinguisher designed to look so good that people will keep it out where it is handy. It can be easily operated with one hand and weighs only 4.5 pounds; mounting hardware is included.
The B and C rating means it is suitable for putting out grease, oil or electrical fires.
Cost: $30 at The Home Depot.
On the drawing board at HomeHero:
A fire extinguisher so smart that it automatically calls the fire department when you remove it from its stand.
No due date or price yet.
Heat a space
Be very aware of safety when using a portable space heater. Keep electric space heaters at least three feet away from furniture, curtains, bedding or blankets you’ve wrapped around yourself to ward off the chill.
Don’t use an extension cord. The cords are not always adequate to carry the amount of current needed by the heater.
Turn it off when going to sleep. About half the deaths from space-heater fires occur at night when people are sleeping, the U.S. Consumer Safety Commission says.
Look for a space heater that turns itself off when it overheats or is tipped over.
Electric convection heaters without fans are best for whole-room heating and, being fanless, they are quiet.
Consumer Reports describes The SafeHeat Flat Panel Micathermic, $80 at Lowe’s, as a safe and easy-to-use convection heater. At only 3 inches wide, the high-style design mimics that of a flat-panel television. For spot heating, CR gives the Holmes Quartz Tower, $60 at Lowe’s, high marks for safety and efficiency. This one has a fan that blows the hot air your way.
Get smart
The majority of Americans deceive themselves into thinking they are adequately prepared in case of home fires, but in reality most are not, according to a survey this summer by Duracell batteries and Harris Interactive. Here’s what the survey showed:
*95 percent of the U.S. population: Never practice home fire drills.
More Top Picks Basketballs
*77 percent: Haven’t checked to see if escape windows can be opened.
*48 percent: Never or seldom replace smoke-alarm batteries.
*60 percent: Have a plan that ensures the evacuation of pets.
*40 percent: Have a plan that ensures the evacuation of “senior adults” who live in their homes.
Check your knowledge of home fire safety by taking the Power to Protect test at www.duracell.com.
Close quarters
Leave fast, stay low to avoid smoke inhalation, meet your family at a prearranged location and don’t go back in. That’s what firefighters say.
In an apartment fire, the safety tips are the same, except this: Don’t assume another tenant has called the fire department. Once you are out, call 911. If you are trapped inside, call 911 even if you see the fire trucks outside. Firefighters need to know exactly where you are.
Holy Smokes!
Used church candles (“30 percent Lutheran, 30 percent Catholic, 40 percent all other”) provide the wax to make Holy Smokes! fire starters. Martha and Richard Lyman of Virginia travel around picking up donated candles from churches, mostly in New England, and then combine the recycled paraffin and beeswax with recycled wood fiber to create fire-starting sticks. Richard Lyman says it’s is an ecumenical blend of denominations, depending on what’s available.
The fire starters carry a delicate woodsy scent, so they aren’t offensive if you plan to use them not only in the fireplace but also the barbecue.
We found them online at www.gaiam.com. Cost, $16 for two packs, enough to start at least 30 fires.
Spark of style
Light your candles with display-worthy box matches by HomArt. The boxes depict tasteful flora or fauna, and one line features vintage signs illustrated with domestic animals. The Good Dog Match Co. design brings a smile. If you don’t have curious little kids around, these are nice-looking enough to leave sitting out by the candle.
Cost: $3.25 for each box of 50 matches at DH Collection, 3320 W. Seventh St., Ft. Worth, Texas.
Greener burning
Hardwood dried for six months to a year is recommended as the cleanest-burning fuel for fireplaces. Yet faux logs made with petroleum-based wax have been popular for decades.
This season, you’ll be able to pile manufactured logs in the cart with a clearer conscience: Duraflame is going greener. Duraflame abandoned all use of increasingly expensive petroleum-based waxes this year. The company sells 100 million logs a year, and its new ones are all made with renewable vegetable-based waxes. They say “Xtra Duraflame” on the label. Look for them at grocery stores and big-box retailers.
Cost: $2-$4 a log, depending on size.
Learn more
Find fire-safety tips for homes and hotels with good fire ratings at www.usfa.fema.gov
– – –
Fire by the numbers
30 seconds to 1 minute
The amount of time it takes a fire to double in size
Less than 5 minutes
In general, the amount of time available to safely leave a house on fire
3 feet
That’s the minimum distance furniture should be kept from a fireplace hearth.
15 feet
Distance tree branches should be from the top of the chimney
30 feet
More Top Picks Best Dinnerware Sets For Families
Distance from the home that firewood should be stacked
Between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The hours when most fire deaths occur
Sources: U.S. Fire Administration, National Fire Protection Association, Consumer Product Safety Commission