You all are busy spreading holiday cheer this season, but while you’re at it, please spread awareness about fire safety, too.
Awareness is the reason why each year, the Oak Park Fire Department teams up with the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association and neighboring fire departments for the “Keep the Wreath Red” fire safety program. The village hangs a wreath with red bulbs in its window, reminding folks to have a fire safe holiday.
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The program is designed to alert residents of fires caused by holiday-related decorations, and the wreath serves as a visual reminder to take extra safety precautions during the season so residents can stay happy and safe.
“It’s just to make everybody aware of fire safety during the holidays,” said Oak Park’s Deputy Fire Chief Scott Bartelt. “Everybody is making fires in the fireplace, candles are going, they’re doing a lot of cooking. This is just to make everybody aware because fires can occur.”
The statewide program, which started in the mid 1990s, works pretty simply. As the holiday season approaches, fire departments are asked to hang a holiday wreath containing red lights in a visible window easily seen by the public. Oak Park’s wreath was hung on Thanksgiving at the main fire station, 100 N. Euclid Ave.
It will be constantly illuminated, and if a fire occurs anywhere in the village that is directly caused by holiday decorations such as trees, lights, cords, candles, burning wrapping paper in fireplaces, etc., the red bulbs will be changed to white bulbs.
The wreath will remain until Jan. 7, according to Bartelt.
“A lot of people see the red wreath in the fire station window and think it’s there to celebrate the holiday season. … I think a lot of people don’t know,” said Bartelt. “This will make them aware of it.”
So will the following tips, hopefully:
Change your smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries. A good rule of thumb is to change them when you change your clocks, said Bartelt. Keep space heaters away from anything flammable and don’t use extension cords with them, plug the heater in directly, he said. Keep curtains, clothes, etc., clear of any space heater, and don’t leave them on at night when you sleep nor keep them running all the time, said Bartelt.
Don’t leave your stove unattended when cooking and don’t wear loose clothing —+/- such as big, flowy sleeves — that could catch a flame. Buy flame-retardant holiday decorations. Keep your tree watered daily and turn off its lights at night or when you’re not home. Don’t use frayed electrical cords. Have an annual fireplace inspection to avoid creosote build-up and don’t burn your used gift wrapping paper in your fireplace.
Additionally, don’t burn candles all the way down and keep them away from anything flammable, Bartelt said. He recalled one time when he went to a woman’s home and she had about 40 candles going all over her room. When he told her he should put them out, she told him they weren’t real. “So LED ones are good,” Bartelt said. “Granted they don’t have that aroma, but they’re safer.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if the fire safety awareness spread, well, like a wildfire, and the wreath stayed red all season long? Bartelt said his hope is: “That we keep the wreath red and we don’t have to change the bulbs due to holiday season fires.”
Felicia Dechter is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.