WHITEHOUSE, Texas — As the cold weather continues to linger across East Texas, it's important to know how to warm your home safely.
A space heater is commonly used during the winter, but it can also be a fire hazard. Longview Fire Marshal Kevin May said ways to use a space heater correctly include: keeping it three feet away from anything flammable, not plugging it into an extension cord, and buying one with tip-over protection.
"Tip-over protection is really important if you have kids if you have pets. That way when, if it gets knocked over, then what happens is it automatically shuts itself off." May said.
The other thing that is a little tougher and requires more maintenance is a chimney. If your chimney was lying dormant all summer, think twice before just firing it up, because it can turn out to be extremely dangerous.
"There’s a fire hazard in your chimney that you don’t know about. It’s called creosote. It’s highly flammable, and after years of using your fireplace it can catch on fire, and it can burn your house down," said Robert Swinney, owner of The Chimney Sweep.
Creosote is the chemical formed when wood and coal break down. If you don’t perform any sort of cleaning or maintenance to the fireplace, the creosote just builds and builds, quickly turning a nice evening by the fire into something entirely different.
"Go over there and check them out, and maybe clean them out so we can get a better look at them and see if it did any damage. Sometimes it doesn’t do any damage. It sounds like a jet engine in your fireplace in your house immediately when you have a chimney fire," Swinney said.
Swinney and his company have been taking care of East Texans since 1975. He has certainly seen his fair share of housefires and all sorts of issues during the winter season.
"Chimney fires are extremely dangerous, and people don’t realize it. They just think all you have to do is light a match, build a fire light a match, and you’ll have a good evening." Swinney said. "But when that chimney does catch on fire - and they do - they’ll know they should’ve called me before they called the fire department."