Families across Tipperary are being reminded to take some basic safety steps over the festive period.
Tipperary Fire & Rescue personnel will be on call right throughout Christmas and the New Year
They have dealt with around 100 domestic fires in the Premier County already this year as well as in the region of 120 chimney fires which in some instances developed into larger house fires.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Carol Kennedy says it’s important to have an escape plan in place in the event of fire.
“Absolutely and I suppose the important thing for Christmas as well is to make sure if you have any visitors or guests staying over that aren’t particularly familiar with your house that you share your escape plan with them.
“What we would say it basically to have two means of escape – be it your front door and also your back door. Bearing that in mind have the keys close by and known by every adult where they are in the house so that if you do need to open the doors or unlock the doors in the night time that you know where the keys are.”
We’re also being advised not to overload sockets with electrical items.
Smartphones and game consoles will probably be under many Christmas trees once again this year.
These combined with heaters and other electric appliances could lead to people trying to run a number of items from one socket.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Carol Kennedy has this advice.
“What we would say is one socket – one plug. That’s really just for safety and to make sure that you’re not overloading sockets.
“If you do have to have an extension lead make sure that it’s a fused one so that in the event of something happening it will blow the fuse and that way it keeps us much safer.”
