{"id":9146,"date":"2014-10-24T06:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=9146"},"modified":"2014-10-23T18:10:32","modified_gmt":"2014-10-23T23:10:32","slug":"tennessee-state-fire-marshals-office-reminds-tennesseans-to-stay-ahead-of-the-cold-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2014\/10\/24\/tennessee-state-fire-marshals-office-reminds-tennesseans-to-stay-ahead-of-the-cold-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee State Fire Marshal&#8217;s Office Reminds Tennesseans to Stay Ahead of the Cold Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><em>Tennessee State Fire Marshal\u2019s Office: \u201cStay ahead of the cold snap\u201d<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-67254\" title=\"Tennessee State Fire Marshal\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Tennessee-State-Fire-Marshal.jpg\" alt=\"Tennessee State Fire Marshal\" width=\"220\" height=\"202\" \/>Nashville, TN<\/strong> &#8211; Did you know that when the first cold snap of the fall season occurs, a wave of home fires usually follows? The State Fire Marshal&#8217;s Office is urging Tennesseans to take fire safety precautions now in preparation for the colder nights making way into the state.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With colder temperatures come more opportunities for residential fires,&#8221; says State Fire Marshal Gary West. &#8220;We begin using heating sources that have been dormant for many months, and this can lead to fire safety issues. Prepare for the heating season early to reduce your family&#8217;s risk of a home fire.&#8221;<!--more-->The cost of utilities and fuels causes many Tennesseans to search for alternate sources for home heating.<\/p>\n<p>Wood stoves, space heaters and fireplaces are, however, major factors in home heating fires. In 2013, heating equipment was involved in 654 Tennessee structure fires.<\/p>\n<p>These fires resulted in 12 deaths, 14 injuries, and $9.16 million in direct property damage.<\/p>\n<h4>Here are some simple steps that can prevent most heating-related fires from happening:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep anything that can burn at least three feet away from heating equipment, like the furnace, fireplace, wood stove, or portable space heater.<\/li>\n<li>Never use your oven to heat your home.<\/li>\n<li>Have a qualified professional install stationary space heating equipment, water heaters or central heating equipment according to the local codes and manufacturer\u2019s instructions.<\/li>\n<li>Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional.<\/li>\n<li>Remember to turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.<\/li>\n<li>Plug portable heaters directly into outlets and never into an extension cord.<\/li>\n<li>Always use the right kind of fuel, specified by the manufacturer, for fuel burning space heaters.<\/li>\n<li>Burn only dry, seasoned wood in fireplaces and woodstoves. Never burn garbage or use flammable liquids to start a fire.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure the fireplace has a sturdy screen to stop sparks from flying into the room. Ashes should be cool before putting them in a metal container. Keep the container a safe distance away from your home.<\/li>\n<li>If the pilot light of your gas heater goes out, allow 5 minutes or more for the gas to go away before trying to relight the pilot. Follow manufacturer\u2019s instructions when relighting the pilot.<\/li>\n<li>Do not allow gas to accumulate, and light the match before you turn on the gas to the pilot to avoid risk of flashback.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms on every level of your home and to test them monthly. Develop and practice a home fire escape plan with everyone in your home. The plan should include two ways out of every room and a designated meeting place outside where everyone can be accounted for.<\/p>\n<h3>About the Tennessee State Fire Marshal&#8217;s Office<\/h3>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/tn.gov\/fire\/index.shtml\" >State Fire Marshal\u2019s Office<\/a> is a division of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tn.gov\/commerce\" >Department of Commerce and Insurance<\/a>, which works to protect consumers while ensuring fair competition for industries and professionals who do business in Tennessee. Visit our website at <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tn.gov\/fire\" >www.tn.gov\/fire<\/a> for more fire prevention tips. Follow us on <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/on.fb.me\/uFQwUZ\" >Facebook<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TNCommerceInsur\" >Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennessee State Fire Marshal\u2019s Office: \u201cStay ahead of the cold snap\u201d Nashville, TN &#8211; Did you know that when the first cold snap of the fall season occurs, a wave of home fires usually follows? The State Fire Marshal&#8217;s Office is urging Tennesseans to take fire safety precautions now in preparation for the colder nights [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[8806,2664,107,2668,8495,6210,284,261,2288,2215,7212],"class_list":["post-9146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-cold-safety-tips","tag-cold-weather","tag-featured","tag-fire","tag-gary-west","tag-house-fire","tag-nashville-tn","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-department-of-commerce-and-insurance","tag-tennessee-state-fire-marshal","tag-tennessee-state-fire-marshals-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9147,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9146\/revisions\/9147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}