FIREPROOF YOUR HOME

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Do you know that if stirred up in the air, sawdust can ignite and explode with enough force to blow your house wall out? True! Keep your wood shop dust-free and never have an open flame going while you saw. Let the dust settle and the air clear completely before you add scraps to the wood stove that heats your shop.

Wood Stove Safety

Wood stoves and the pipes and chimneys serving them are a major fire source. Keep your stovepipe clean and have your flue cleaned at least once a year. Keep combustibles a safe distance from the stove (36 feet unless your stove's directions indicate differently). Be sure your stovepipe, flue, and the connections between are tight. Burn clean to reduce creosote buildup.

If your stove overheats or if the pipe begins to pop or turn red, the best remedy is to close up the stove to deny the fire oxygen. But sometimes the door is too hot to handle or has warped. You can repeatedly throw small amounts of water into an overheated stove to quench the fire. But do not toss a full bucket of water or splash water onto an overheated stove. If cooled rapidly by the water, the red-hot metal or soapstone could fracture violently, spewing hot coals into the room. If combustibles surrounding the stove threaten to overheat, water down the floor, walls, or furniture-not the stove.

If you see a fountain of sparks coming from your chimney and hear the railroad train roar of air being sucked through the stove by a chimney fire, try to shut the stove door and close dampers. If you can't eliminate the draft, aim your extinguisher into the stove.

However, home extinguishers are often inadequate to keep a flue fire from reigniting. Call the fire department even if the fire seems to be under control. If they are confident that the fire is contained effectively inside a strong, ceramic-lined flue built with modern clearances from wood frame members, some fire departments will let a flue fire burn itself out. But don't make that judgment yourself. Have the flue checked by a licensed expert before using it again.

Electrical Fires

Ways to prevent the most common electrical fires are common knowledge—ways that are too often ignored. You know not to overload a wall outlet with multiple-plug adapters or to chain extension cords-which can draw so much electricity through their thin wires that they may heat up and catch fire. Never leave on resistance-element small appliances such as an iron or coffee maker when away from home or if you're sleeping. The same goes for Christmas tree lights, and one of those $20 tree-fire alarms is good added insurance. Ground three-prong plugs and keep electrical cords in good repair.

Be more alert than I was to signs of potential electrical problems. If a fuse burns or a circuit breaker trips repeatedly call an electrician-especially of you are not overloading the circuit (say, by plugging a toaster, clothes iron, and microwave into the same 15-amp kitchen circuit). Never increase the amp rating of fuses or plug a larger capacity circuit breaker in a panel or replace a blown fuse with a penny.

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