By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Fire Chief Steven Beer said December has not been a good month for his department.
"It's been a terrible month for us here in Hutch with fires," Beer said. "In front of every fire station, we've got a big, green Christmas wreath. It's all lit up in green, but for every structure fire, we take out a green bulb and we put in a red one. I think we're up to six right now, five or six on that wreath now since December 1st."
A big problem has been electrical fires and fires from space heaters.
"You've got to keep your combustibles away from any space heater that you plug in," Beer said. "Also, we see this time of year, overloaded outlets and many extension cords. The Christmas tree is a little bit nicer now a days with the LED Christmas lights, they don't take the draw on the system as the old fashioned lights did."
Even with that, it's still best to plug whatever will draw a lot of current into the wall directly, rather than into an extension cord. Also, be sure you have smoke detectors and they work.
"Half the fires we respond to still do not have working smoke detectors in their home," Beer said. "That smoke detector is watching your home at night. Once that smoke detector goes off, you have literally two minutes to get out of your home."
If you are going someplace for the holidays to stay, be sure you know how to get out, just as if you were at home.