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As we enter the holiday season, Emergency Management offers tips for getting prepared and staying safe.
November and December are full of holiday celebrations. From Diwali to Thanksgiving, Hanukkah to Christmas and Kwanzaa to New Years, there are many reasons to gather with friends and family. During these months we also experience winter weather like rain, sleet and snow, and an increase in home fires due to cooking, candles, and decorations. Follow these tips to be prepared and stay safe this holiday season!
Holiday Travel
If you plan to travel this holiday season, make sure your car and family are prepared.
Stock your vehicle with tools like an ice scraper, small shovel, gloves, blanket, tire chains, first
aid kit and charging pack/cable for your phone. You can use Washington State Department of Transportation’s checklist to make sure your vehicle has all the right supplies.
- To learn more about ice and snow impacts, like dangerous roadways, delayed or canceled public transportation, and carbon monoxide poisoning, visit Public Alerts. You can also check tripcheck.com and wc-roads.com for up-to-date road conditions before you travel.
Take some time to update your emergency contact information card as well. You can find a place to write them down on page two of this family emergency plan. Once you have this filled out, make sure everyone in your family has a copy. And before you leave your home to travel, let one of your emergency contacts know where you’re going and when you expect to arrive, so they can check-in or call for help if anything happens.
Cooking Safely
Home fires due to cooking increase drastically during the holiday season. Watch this video and make sure every adult and older child in your family knows where the fire extinguisher is in the house and how to use it. Fires can grow quickly, and you should only try to extinguish small fires like ones contained in a pan or about the size of a kitchen trashcan. Also practice your home evacuation plan with every member of the family in case a cooking fire gets too large for you to put out on your own.
Here are some quick tips for safe cooking so you can reduce the chance of a cooking fire in your home:
- Don’t leave your cooking unattended
- Move things that can burn easily, like dishtowels, bags, boxes, and curtains away from the stove
- Turn pot handles toward the back of the stove so no one can bump them
- Wear short sleeves or roll your sleeves up so they don’t catch fire while cooking
Holiday Decorating
Candles, lights on trees, and extension cords are all used to make your house festive, but they can also increase the risk of a house fire. Follow these decorating tips to avoid potential fire dangers:
- Use battery operated or flameless candles instead of real candles
- Keep candles 12 inches away from things that can burn
- Turn off your holiday lights before leaving home or going to bed
- Don’t overload your electrical multi-outlets or connect more extension cords than recommended by the manufacturer
- Keep your Christmas tree watered – dry trees can catch fire much easier than regularly watered trees
This is also a good time to locate and test your smoke alarms. Make sure you have a smoke alarm in every sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every level of the home including the basement. If you don't have them in your rental unit, ask your landlord or property manager to install them.
Holiday Shopping
Shopping online this year or trying to take advantage of the holiday sales? Be cautious when opening
emails with holiday deals. Scammers send fake emails that are too good to be true. If you find a deal in an email you like, open another tab in your internet browser and go to the site directly, without relying on the links in the email.
If you’re looking for gift ideas, consider giving emergency preparedness items like NOAA weather radios, water filtration straws, or first aid kits. Dry shampoo, baby wipes, can openers and flashlights make great stocking stuffers.
And finally, remember to celebrate what has gone well. This has been an extremely challenging year, and finding something to be thankful for this holiday season will help keep your spirits up.