How a smoke alarm could save your life this Christmas

Christmas seems to come earlier every year! Here at Fulcher Edwards, we are working in homes and businesses across London who already have their Christmas decorations up. Such festivities can quickly brighten up dreary old November, but can also be a huge fire risk.

Have you seen this video? This is how quickly a fire can engulf a room. In just 60 seconds, a living room is engulfed in flames and thick black smoke. http://youtu.be/hMtjGfr0tYs

The fire is caused by not turning off Christmas lighting, a simple thing to do you may think, but it is surprising how many people simply leave them on overnight or when out and about. Like any other electrical item, Christmas tree lights can develop faults. Lights that have not been stored correctly could have damage to the delicate wires and older lights that are not LED have an even greater risk of over heating and catching fire.

Christmas decorations just add to the mix

Once a fire starts Christmas trees particularly real trees can form the perfect fuel for a growing fire. Paper chains and other flammable decorations will add to the mix. Of course no household or business can guarantee to be 100% fire free once their decorations are in place. The speed in which fire can develop is truly frightening – a fire like in the video could occur whilst you are in another room in your home! This is why it is essential to have at least one smoke alarm in your property.

How can a fire alarm help?

A fire alarm detects fumes that contribute to the start of an actual fire. Burning, smouldering and overheating take place some time before the fire itself starts. In the case of the video, a fire alarm may pick up fumes given off by the tree lights prior to the fire starting. The activation of the fire alarm would ensure that the occupants of the house are able to get out safely before the fire becomes unmanageable.

Remember that smoke alarms also need testing. Test it Tuesday is a very popular campaign aimed at getting people to test their smoke alarms every Tuesday. Today is the last Tuesday before Advent begins, and the weekend will see many more households join in with the Christmas hype and decorate their homes with all manner of decorations!

Before you begin, ensure that your smoke alarm is working.

The Fulcher Edwards Christmas check list

As electricians in South East London, we see many cases of risks being taken when it comes to Christmas decorations. Overloaded extension leads, decorations that are a fire and an electrical hazard and dangerously positioned trees and other decorations. Reduce the risk of house fire and ensure your electrical safety by:

• Checking Christmas lighting, both indoor and outdoor for damage before assembling. Check cables are free of damage, plugs are intact and crucially check for blown bulbs before hanging them.

• Are your bulbs LED? LED lights are far safer and are less likely to over heat. If a bulb does blow, the lighting will need to be replaced as bulbs are not replaceable. LED lights are now sold as standard in shops.

• Ensure that lights used outside are suitable for outside use.

• Minimise the use of extension leads. Never be tempted to plug an extension lead into another extension lead.

• Consider the use of timers. These will ensure that your lights go off at a set time. It is easy to forget to switch lights off especially if they are outside or in a window.

• Never place trees or decorations near to sources of heat such as fires or electric heaters. The heat from them can ignite flammable objects nearby.

• Never carry out repairs using insulation tape or try to connect one set of lights to another set by connecting the wires.

• If you have any doubt about the safety of your lights at any point, turn them off immediately and do not use them.

• Purchase flame resistant decorations and trees. Old decorations and some real trees are not flame resistant and will just make a fire worse if one occurs.

Finally, remember to keep checking your smoke alarm weekly throughout Christmas (and beyond!) Christmas time sees a huge increase in house fires with the added decorations, people being off guard and the increased risk of cooking related fire.

If you have any concern about the safety of your home electrics, it is not too late to have a pre Christmas electrical safety check carried out. Contact us today to find out more.