Festive celebrations, twinkling lights, and sharing meals with family, friends, and colleagues are some of the defining features of the upcoming holidays. However, certain fire hazards that arise from the holiday season can swiftly transform this joyful time of year into a disastrous one.

The National Fire Protection Association reported that on Thanksgiving Day 2022 an estimated 1,610 home cooking fires were reported to fire departments, reflecting a 399 percent increase over the daily average. The association also ranks Thanksgiving as the peak day for home cooking fires.

If cooking a Thanksgiving meal is in your future, here are some safety tips to keep you and your loved ones safe from fire this Thanksgiving season.

• Do not leave food unattended on the stove. According to NFPA, unattended cooking is the leading contributing factor in cooking fires and fire deaths.
• Keep children away from the stove.
• Ensure electric cords from coffee makers, air fryers, blenders, plate warmers, or other electronic kitchen appliances are out of sight and not dangling off the counter.
• Check all smoke alarms are working properly and test them by pushing the test button.

Fire & Life Safety Executive Director and Fire Marshal Chris McDonald noted that while Thanksgiving brings families together, it also provides moments of distractions. McDonald urges people to not leave food unattended for any amount of time when cooking. McDonald also recommends people check to ensure the appliances they plan on using are working properly before using them.

After Thanksgiving, the attention turns to other winter holidays. For University of Houston faculty and staff that decorate trees, these trees can pose a fire risk.

The NFPA reports that between 2015 and 2019, trees that caught fire cost an average of $10 million in property damage, 12 injuries and two deaths. If decorating a tree is in your holiday plans, heed the following tips to ensure a safe holiday.

• Keep the tree away from heat sources like space heaters, candles, and fireplaces.
• When buying artificial trees, look for the ‘Fire Resistant’ label. While this does not guarantee the tree will not catch fire, it does signal that the tree is more resistant to fire.
• For real trees, ensure the live tree is fresh. Do this by testing the branches. They should be hard to pull from the tree and should not break when bent between the fingers.

For people planning on using live trees, McDonald urges people to water their trees every day, adding that missing one or two days sets it on an unreversible course because once the trees dry out, it’s hard to reverse the process.

“Dry trees burn very hot and very fast,” said McDonald. “It’s surprising how fast and how hot they burn. It’s almost like gasoline.”

For artificial trees, the biggest cause of fires tends to be decorations being too close to a heating source, like candles, or fireplaces.

Holiday lights are another potential fire risk if proper precautions are not taken. Before displaying holiday light decorations, ensure there are no broken sockets, cracked lights, or wires that are exposed or frayed.

Additionally, McDonald stresses proper extension cord use when connecting them to holiday lights and avoid plugging a bunch of them together to reach the outlet. He urges people to plug lights directly into an outlet.

For faculty & staff looking to decorate their offices, McDonald urges people to ensure the safety devices in the offices, such as sprinklers, fire alarms, and fire hydrants, remain uncovered and that trees are not blocking a room exit.

Stay safe this holiday season by following these simple, yet effective, holiday safety tips.