This month marks the peak of the holiday season and people are getting more excited to celebrate Christmas and to welcome another year with lots of hope and dreams. And alongside to those cheerful and enthusiastic feelings and thoughts, you will see that majority of homes in your neighborhood are celebrating the holiday season already with their joyful decorations as well.

However, not all households this year will celebrate this season merrily because sadly, local fire departments have reported the increased number of fire cases in homes especially during this time of the year. One main reason is the electrical problems on some electrical decorations and a few more related issues. Irwin Consulting Services don’t want to add more numbers to the victims of home fires this year, so the following guidelines were made by the group to help your family become safer this holiday season even in the simplest way.

Look after a live Christmas tree

In choosing a live or a real tree, you need to select the greener and fresher ones because you don’t want to have drier trees that are a magnet to fires and can react to flames quickly. In case you already have one, make sure that it is a distance away from the heat sources in your home and is close to the fire extinguisher. You should protect the tree to avoid dryness so water it daily to ensure its healthy condition. Artificial trees can be a good choice as well especially if the tree is labeled “fire resistant”.

Ensure good electrical connections

Make sure of proper electrical connections in your house. Plan everything at first since the holiday season will require you to have more sockets for additional electrical decorations. Organize the extension cords or power strips properly to prevent overloading as well as electrical and even fire accidents.

Protect electrical cords

The cords should be safe from harm so be careful in arranging them to avoid any kind of damages. Use hooks or insulated staples over nails or tacks.

Trash wrapping papers properly

The entire family will definitely feel happiness after their gift-giving, but do not let your family members throw away the wrapping papers at the fireplaces. Gather the papers then throw them in the trash can or you can unleash your creative side and simply recycle or reuse them. Remember that papers are also fast in catching fires and even start flash fires.

Require the help of others

You can probably do the decorating alone at higher places but Irwin Consulting Services would like you to double guarantee your safety, thus it would be better to have other people in your family or friends to help you. Seek their support in guarding the base of the ladder to ensure your safety while decorating at higher places such as in the roof, high walls, or top of the tree.

Use safe Christmas lights

Damaged Christmas lights should definitely be replaced. Before using the lights, check if there were any damages on it to avoid electrical issues that may lead to unwanted accidents. You must not allow frayed wires, broken sockets or loose connections to give lighting to your joyous holiday celebration.

Be wary of using the lights

Decorative lights should not be left unattended for a long period of time. Turn them off properly before going to bed or before your family leave the house. Perhaps you would like to leave them open on the outside for a lovely sight but never risk the safety of your home and your family to please a few people outdoors.

Take extra caution with candles

To add more aesthetics to your holiday decorations, you might have a few beautiful candles with a good scent in your living room or other rooms in your house. But if you have little children and pets, having this kind of additional décor may not be a good idea unless they are not within the reach of your kids and animals. Put the candles away from combustible objects as well.

Choose sturdy ornaments

Your children or pets might get interested in those lovely ornaments of yours and then play with them. It is often a practical choice to get decors that can be quite expensive but very durable. It would be a different story with electrical decorations that are smaller in size because kids and animals might try to swallow them, so avoid putting those items in places that were easy to reach for them.

Think carefully about displaying fake foods

This might not be the best idea if you have little children and animals. They might mistake those delicious-looking macaroons or candies as real ones and then try to eat them.

Choose festive plants wisely

You might have other plants included in your holiday decorations, but some can be poisonous once eaten. Poinsettias were the most popular during this season, and even if this plant is only mildly toxic, it still brings some danger to your family’s health so think twice about adding such plants to your décor.

Irwin Consulting Services wanted every household to be safe even in this season of love, hope, and joy as part of their commitment to helping organizations, companies, professionals and individuals in ensuring public safety.