Nothing spreads the warmth and fuzziness of the holiday season the way candles do. But be careful–candles are potentially deadly. The average number of household candle fires occurs during December, with Christmas day bringing the most number of candle fires in a year. About 40% of candle fires occur in bedrooms and account for approximately 30% of fire-related deaths.
So what can you do to prevent this from happening?
The best candle safety tip I can give is to not burn candles at all. You can buy very realistic flameless, battery-operated candles made out of real wax. Some of them are scented and come in holiday motifs, such as this set of winter scene candles from flamelesscandles.net. These make the perfect addition to any holiday display without having to worry about fire-related accidents taking place.
But if you must insist on using real candles, make sure you don’t leave them unattended and that you snuff them out before leaving a room or going to sleep. Keep them away from things that can easily catch fire, like curtains or magazines. Place your candles in sturdy candle holders large enough to collect the dripping wax. Keep candle wicks trimmed to a quarter of an inch, and extinguish pillar candles once they’re two inches away from the holder.