TAMPA, Fla. — According to the National Fire Protection Agency, 88% of home heating fire deaths involved stationary or portable space heaters.
"You have to be incredibly careful with space heaters; you can't plug in and let it go on its own. So you have to monitor it," Vivian Shedd, Public Information Officer with Tampa Fire Rescue, said. "Keep everything three feet from the heat. So your space here should be on a level surface."
Some heaters have automatic shutoffs if they tip over or get too hot. But Shedd said you still have to be extra careful.
"Now a big thing, when you leave the room, turn it off, because you could leave the room for one minute, you can leave the room for one hour, but that timeframe, anything could bump into the space heater. And many people think, 'oh, I want to keep the room warm. But at what cost?'"
Statistics from the National Fire Protection Agency are scary. According to their data, "heating equipment is a leading cause of fires in U.S. homes. Local fire departments responded to an estimated average of 44,210 home structure fires caused by heating equipment each year in 2016-2020.
These fires resulted in annual losses of 480 civilian deaths, 1,370 civilian injuries, and $1 billion in direct property damage. Heating equipment caused one in six home structure fires that took place in 2016–2020 and 18% of home fire deaths. A vast majority of home heating fire deaths involved stationary or portable space heaters. Nearly half of all home heating fires occurred in January, February, and December.
"But, look for the cord, make sure it's not frayed, that it's a solid cord, there are no cuts, there's nothing, and like I said, that's the big tag. We want to make sure that everything looks clean, and no, no damage at all to the cord because a little bit of damage can cause a big problem," Shedd said. "We're always ready. We're always ready to go. 24/7, 365. So even on Christmas, we're making sure Santa's safe."
