Safety Tips When Putting up Christmas Lights

As the Christmas holiday draws nearer, many homes across the country are putting up lights and getting bigger electrical appliances as gifts. But consideration should always be given to the wiring that residences are outfitted with. On Tuesday, Station Manager with the Belize Fire Service, Kenneth Mortis warned people about overloading Christmas lights and appliances on one outlet. Mortis also advised on tips to look for when there’s an overload.

Kenneth Mortis

Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, Belize Fire Service

“You might tend to punch in more than one light set onto an extension cord. It varies the type of extension cord you plan to use, if you want to use the little brown ones that cost about $6.95 versus the little yellow one that ranges anywhere between $14 to $27. Once you start plugging in more than one and you put in that light switch, you notice your light starts to flicker, these are telltale signs that you want to look forward to. It is telling you signs that something isn’t right.  Whenever you use your microwave, you see that microwave pulls and then your light starts to flicker, it’s because it requires an extra amount of energy to get that micro going. It is the same thing with these lights, whether it’s external or internal, you know, it’s basic fire safety and fire safety basically is everybody’s business. It’s not just mine. It’s not yours. It’s everybody’s. You see your neighbor doing it and you notice it, I mean, give that extra safety advice. Let everybody in the household know what to look forward to. Don’t have Christmas trees directly around your outlet in the event that there is a shortage that will be the first contact. The Christmas tree is very flammable, the curtain, and that’s where it starts.”