Take Care With Electrical Holiday Decorations & Supplies

When decorating our homes for the holidays, certain items always have a place.

Stockings hang from the fireplace mantle. The Christmas tree sits by a front window. The house features a wreath on the front door, electric candles in the windowsills, and string lights dangling from the porch. A blow-up Santa and reindeer sway on the lawn.

Electrical safety doesn’t always have a place, but it should. A quarter of holiday season fires are caused by decorations — and that does not include Christmas tree fires, according to the Electrical Safety Foundation International.

Follow safety tips from the ESFI website to keep your home and family safe during the holidays:

• Before you decorate, inspect all lights, decorations, and extension cords for damage. Get rid of any damaged cords.
• Make sure you use extension cords and decorations as they are marked. Indoor cords should not be used outside.
• Plug outdoor lights and decorations into a ground-fault circuit interrupter, or GFCI, outlet.
• Keep your equipment and outdoor decorations at least 10 feet from power lines.
• Before you leave home or go to sleep, turn off all electrical decorations inside and outside your home.
• Don’t overload outlets. They can overheat.
• If you have a live Christmas tree, make sure to water it daily.
• Do not connect more than 3 strings of incandescent lights together.
• Keep decorations at least 3 feet away from heat sources or open flames.
• Take down your decorations after the holidays. They are meant to be temporary. Take some time to inspect everything once again before you store them in a dry location.