Editor’s Note: The transcript of this live Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — As Austin’s temperatures drop to the 30s for the first time this winter, families will start bringing out their portable heaters to try to keep warm.
KXAN’s Will DuPree spoke to the Austin Fire Department’s Assistant Chief Thayer Smith about how you can stay warm safely.
Will DuPree: As we’ve been talking about the temperatures dipping, well into freezing territory here in our area, what kind of concerns does that raise for you all and the work at the Austin Fire Department?
Thayer Smith: So the main thing is, you know, folks that are trying to stay warm, maybe using space heaters. Our normal mantra every time this year is, space heaters need space. So we’ve, we’ve already seen a garage fire this season, in the first cold snap, where a space heater was too close to a dog’s bed and too close to other combustibles. So that’s the big thing we’re looking for. Keep things away from the space heaters. Make sure they have plenty of room. Make sure, there’s not combustibles around your fireplace. If you’re using a fireplace, make sure the screen is in place and that sort of thing. Those are the kind of, probably the two big ones that we see.
Will DuPree: Now, with a fireplace, people may want to fire those up tonight because of how cold it’s going to get. What are some of the safety tips that you would hope they would keep in mind before they do that?
Thayer Smith: One of the big things is to have a professional come out and look at the fireplace, and make sure the fluid is clean if it’s a wood-burning type fireplace. So that’s the main thing, is [to] have a professional look at it. One of the things we see every couple of years here is we usually have a run on fires in fireplaces that are caused by overusing them. They aren’t built here for the long term as a heat source. So when you use them for a sustained period, it’s what we call paralysis. The wood around it can heat up, turn to charcoal and then start the house on fire. We always recommend that you have a professional come out before the season and take a look at those. Make sure they’re all in good working order.
Will DuPree: Don’t necessarily need to use those when it’s 100 degrees outside, sure. But in addition to all that, people are putting up their holiday decorations. They’re lighting their Christmas trees, maybe overloading some of their electrical outlets. What should they keep in mind about doing that to try to avoid starting a fire from something like that?
Thayer Smith: That’s another big one, not overloading the outlets. Another thing we see from time to time is putting a rug over an extension cord to keep from tripping on. It actually creates a fire hazard because it can’t dissipate the heat, and it heats it up and then causes a fire. We shy away from using extension cords [and] power strips, and we recommend one of the bigger metal housing power strips. Because the smaller plastic ones, if you overload them, can burn and contribute to [a] fire.
