Burning Candles

[firefighteranne]

Candles have gained such popularity in the last couple of years, and all fire departments are seeing an increase in the number of residential fires started by the misuse of them. I refuse to give candles as gifts, and I use them in my own home only on rare occasions. However, there are a whole lot of peole that still insist on using them regularly, my mother included, but we won't go there. The advice I've been giving lately is that if you burn candles, set a kitchen timer when you light it to remind you to blow it out. I also suggest putting a post-it note on the inside of your door, to serve as a reminder to extinguish the candle before leaving. We really see an increase in candle use during the holidays, and this might just save some people some great heartache.

[9C7]

Not bad ideas...I'll use 'em.

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Stay Safe.
You asked for my opinion, now you have it. Any similarity to another opinion, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

[RookieFireFighter]

I've seen two incidents in recent weeks regarding candles. The first was someone who put a candle in a glass jar on top of his tv in the basement and went to bed. We got the call at 4 am and when we got in the house, it was full of those little black things that float around the when you burn plastic, light matches, etc. The whole top of the tv had melted. And no, he didn't have a smoke detector.

The second was a women who lit a candle on her kitchen table. She forgot about it and went for an afternoon nap. While she was sleeping, the kitchen curtains that she put the candle next to ignited. She was found unconcious in her bed, and luckily survived.

[SRVFD2]

Rookie, that's scarey!! I seldom use candles, but did tonight during a power outage - was keeping my fingers crossed through the whole thing that we didn't get a call from someone else doing that carelessly! Thanks for bringing up this subject Anne, it's something we all need to be reminded about!!

[The Snake Man]

I have a wife that loves candles therefore we have Tooooooo many! Maybe I'll make those recommendations for her to use. The post it note idea on the back of the door is great.