Temperatures have dropped to below freezing and that has many people using all kinds of heating sources to try and stay warm. A spokesman for the State Fire Marshal, Ron Humphrey, says before firing up the wood stove or plugging in a space heater, be sure to reduce any clutter around the devices. He says don’t have boxes stacked around them or they may not get enough oxygen to work right.

Humphrey says things can tend to get cluttered around the holidays and it’s important to keep any flamables away from heat sources. “Be aware of your surroundings and what you’re using and if you’re using supplemental heat of any kind, that you’re paying attention to it,” Humphrey says. Humphrey says supplemental heating accounts for almost 12 percent of residential fires.

He reminds everyone again to not get distracted in the kitchen during the holiday, as that is another problem that leads to fires. “You get distracted by kids, or you happen to lay down and take a nap and forget something’s on or you leave the house forgetting that you left something on…and again it comes back to just making sure you are conscious of what you are doing and staying focused,” according to Humphrey. He says 30 percent of fires are caused by unattended cooking, which is the number one cause of accidental fires.