According to a recent report by the National Fire Protection Association, nearly 1 in 5 home fires in 2009 were caused by home heating equipment. This puts heating at a very close second to cooking as the top cause of home fires. The report sites many other interesting, if grim, statistics. For example, only 12 percent of home heating fires are due to mechanical failure or malfunction, while 53 percent of deaths related to home heating fires result from combustibles being too close to heat sources; that is, from not keeping heaters a safe distance from things like drapes, clothing and furniture. As you'll see here, the great majority of home heating fires are entirely preventable.
Space heaters
Space heating defines a broad category of home heating equipment and includes common devices like portable electric heaters, kerosene heaters and fireplace inserts, as well as things you may never had heard of, such as "local furnaces." It also includes stoves that are designed for both heating and cooking (not surprisingly, the cooking function accounts for a good chunk of the fires with these). In 2005 to 2009, the NFPA found that space heaters as a group were responsible for 32 percent of home heating fires. That number seemed low to me, given the high wattages and poor design of so many space heaters on the market over the years. But then I kept reading: Space heaters cause 79 percent of the deaths from home heating fires. This means that space heating, in practical use, is by far the most dangerous type of heating equipment. Here are some tips to keep it safer:
When choosing a portable heater, make sure it has temperature control and an automatic safety shutoff if the unit tips over, and that it bears the "UL" (Underwriter's Laboratories) stamp of approval.
Place heaters on a solid, flat surface; never on carpeting, rugs or fabric.
Turn off space heaters when you're out of the room or sleeping.
Keep heaters at least 3 feet away from all combustibles. Never lay clothing to dry over a heater.
Don't use extension cords to plug in electric heaters. (However, since people often ignore this advice, here's the reasoning: regular skimpy cords can't handle the power draw of some space heaters and can melt and/or short out (it happened to me once). If you use an extension cord, get a beefy one from the garage (like a 12-gauge power tool-type cord), and plug it into a GFCI outlet, if available. If any cord gets hot while running a space heater, it's too small for the power load.
