From the City of Cottage Grove:
The holiday season often centers around delicious food and warm gatherings. Here are a few essential winter safety tips to keep your home safe.
Kitchen Fire Safety
- Keep children and pets at least 3 ft. away from the stove and hot surfaces.
- Use back burners and turn pot and pan handles inward.
- When you cook, stay and look. If you step away, turn off the burners.
- Grease Fire: Do not use water! Smother it with a lid, extinguish small fires with baking soda–not flour, and evacuate and call 911 if the fire is large.
General Home Safety
- Ensure your smoke alarms and CO detectors are working properly. Replace smoke alarms every 10 years and CO detectors every 7 years.
- Never idle your car in the garage, even with the door open.
Seasonal Decorations
- If you are displaying a real Christmas tree, keep the stand full of water. A dry tree is extremely flammable and can catch fire quickly.
- Keep decorations away from fireplaces, stoves, and heaters.
- Never leave burning candles unattended. Extinguish them when you leave the room or go to sleep. Keep candles away from flammable items.
If you live in Hastings, look to the fire department to see the Christmas wreath. We want to keep that wreath as clear as possible. There are some red bulbs already added this season to the wreath. The red bulbs signify a house fire. Let’s have a safe and happy holiday, and do our parts to ensure that no more red bulbs are added to the Hastings Fire Department wreath.