With the cold of winter beginning to bear down on southeast Iowa, it’s important for people to heat their homes safely to avoid starting house fires. Riverside Fire Chief Chad Smothers says regardless of whether you heat your house with a furnace, chimney, or other method, most house fires can be avoided with maintenance. This includes making sure your furnace is up to date and clean, which should be done every year. Those with chimneys should make sure they have it properly cleaned out once a year as well.

Smothers says even though we’ve had a lull in fires over the fall months, house fires tend to crop up in the winter when people get careless. He says, “Typically the winter time, that’s when we pick up again with a lot of house fires and structure fires just due to heating. So whether it’s a fireplace or just sometimes people get creative with how they heat their houses, for whatever reason a lot of house fires or structure fires seem to happen during the winter months.” He adds, with Christmas approaching and people plugging in a lot of lights and other decorations, it’s important to not overload outlets. Additionally, he says to make sure real Christmas trees stay watered, because they can start house fires if they get too dry.