The holiday season is full of high spirits and laughter as we come together to celebrate with our families. However, holiday celebrations can bring extra risk to the safety of your home. Understating these risks and how to most effectively prevent them is essential to a safe holiday season. In this blog, we will discuss holiday safety tips to help protect your home and family.
Candle Risks
Candles make the holiday season cozy, warm, and inviting. They are a key component of many celebrations involving Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanza. Unfortunately, the mass amount of candles burned during the holiday season brings a level of risk to homeowners.
In fact, Christmas Day has almost three times as many candle fires compared to an average day. Moreover, 12 percent of candle fires in December start with holiday decorations, including Christmas trees.
To prevent a candle fire from starting in your home, it’s best to use sturdy, weighted candle holders and move all igniting fuel far away from flames. Ensure that candles are placed on safe surfaces, avoiding wobbly tables or flammable materials like paper or cloth decorations.
Other helpful safety tips include blowing out candles before they burn all the way down. This is especially important for candles in glass jars as they can explode if they get too hot.
Most importantly, never leave candles lit when leaving your home, no matter how fast you’ll be back.
Cautious Holiday Cooking
The kitchen can become one of the most hectic locations in your house during the holiday season. Cooking a large, festive meal for your family is no easy task.
Cooking is the leading cause of home fires in the United States. With nearly 173,000 fires per year from cooking mishaps, going over safety tips in the kitchen is essential to protecting your home.
To improve kitchen safety and prevent house fires this holiday season, consider these tips:
- Always keep an eye on food: The most common reason for cooking fires is leaving food unattended in the oven. Always stay within close proximity of your oven when in use.
- Fry responsibly: Deep-fried turkey is a common holiday meal. However, frying at home comes with its risks. Brush up on fryer safety tips directly from the U.S. Fire Administration.
- Check smoke detectors: No matter how many precautions you take, accidents are sometimes unavoidable. Ensure your smoke detectors and/or sprinklers are functioning to prevent a catastrophic fire.
Properly Hide Packages
The rise in popularity of online shopping makes buying Christmas presents a lot more convenient. However, with such a large amount of people shopping online, it increases the risk of thieves stealing your package upon arrival.
Many services such as Amazon Prime offer real-time updates on packages so you know exactly when it’s at your front door. Securing packages as soon as possible and storing them in a safe place away from windows is essential to protecting your family’s gifts.
Additionally, it’s a good idea to fully collapse boxes when disposing of them so people can’t see that you bought a brand-new television for the holidays. Investing in home security such as a Ring doorbell is also a great way to prevent the risk of thieves.
Stay Safe This Holiday Season With COBIA Insurance
Although the holidays are a time to relax and unwind with the family, it’s also a great time to protect your home and valuable goods from potential risks. At COBIA Insurance, we want to take the stress off your shoulders by providing innovative insurance solutions to help protect you. From homeowners insurance to umbrella insurance, our team is ready to provide you with the highest level of care and security. For more information on our services, please contact us to set up an appointment.
