May 19, 2013
This holiday season won't be the first one for shopper Paul Taylor.
But this year he isn't just hanging his stocking by the chimney with care. Taylor's playing it safe.
Taylor said, “The socket I plugged in the lights to exploded. Things got really black and it was dead. Thank god the rest of the house didn’t catch fire.”
His holiday horrors aren't the only ones around. Battalion Chief Chris Etheredge says firefighters have seen them all.
Chief Etheredge said, “We see often times that people use a multiplier, where we plug something in to an outlet and it becomes six and then it springs off to another set of lights. Those are set for a certain voltage. Make sure that you don't overload it.”
But they aren't the only ones checking those safety measures twice.
Stores like the Home Depot are doing it too.
Assistant store manager of merchandising John Cassel said, “We have timers that help them make sure the lights go off at night so they don't run all night long and don't cause a fire'
A fire Etheredge says you can prevent anytime of the year with one simple thing.
Etheredge said, “Smoke detectors that's your best line of defense against a fire in your home is getting out safely.”
Taking steps ahead of time, so you don't need to take them towards the door during the holidays.
