With extra hazards to consider such as decorations, portable heaters and festive lighting, stay mindful of potential risks. To help, we’ve put together a few key safety tips to guide you through the season.
Tania Emery, A2Dominion’s Building Safety Director, says: “We hope all our customers enjoy the festive season, and ensuring that residents are safe from fire in their homes remains our priority. We’re sharing this advice to help keep you, your neighbours, and guests safe over the holidays.”
Take care with your decorations
Decorating your home is a great way to bring about a bit of festive cheer and battle the winter blues. Following these tips can help you stay safe from fire:
Consider using battery-powered, flameless LED candles.
If you’re using traditional candles, keep them away from Christmas trees, decorations, greeting cards, curtains, or anything else that could catch fire.
Avoid overloading plug sockets
Over half of all accidental house fires are caused by electricity and the majority of these are caused by electrical products:
Safety in the kitchen
More than half of fires in homes start in the kitchen, but there’s lots of advice to prevent kitchen fires on the London Fire Brigade website. These include:
Double checking that the cooker and hob are turned off when you’ve finished cooking.
Never putting anything metal in the microwave.
Testing your smoke alarms regularly. If your alarm is not mains powered, don’t forget to replace the batteries when needed.
Keeping communal areas safe and clear
We know that the festivities don’t stop when you leave your front door, but if you live in a building with a shared communal space such as a courtyard, hallway, staircase or other shared area, please don’t decorate the outside of your home.
This isn’t because we don’t want you to celebrate Christmas or any other occasion. It’s because some items left in communal spaces could be a fire hazard or prevent people from being able to leave a building quickly during an emergency.
That’s why we need to have this blanket rule in place, as it helps to keep residents and visitors safe.
Other top tips include:
Familiarise yourself with the Fire Safety Notice for your building. You can find this in the communal area, and it explains what to do if there’s ever a fire.
Don’t store any personal items in communal areas, such as electric scooters or buggies, as they can block escape routes.
Never prop open fire doors. They’re designed to hold back fires for at least 30 minutes. If you spot any damage, please let us know.
Celebrating with family and friends
We want you to make the most of all the season can offer, but it’s important that our homes and neighbourhoods are also safe and peaceful places to live. If you experience anti-social behaviour (ASB) or want to raise a safeguarding concern, please get in touch so we can support you. Find out more on our ASB dedicated pages.
More information
For more information, please take a look at our help pages about fire safety in the home.
