Safety tips on proper use of extension cords
The hustle and bustle of the Christmas season is here and that means that both business establishments and residential homes will be consuming more than the usual supply of electricity. Invariably, electrical cords are used for Christmas trees, outdoor lighting, household appliances and even heavy duty machines. On Monday, a four year child Jovan Tillett was electrocuted by the cord of a fan in the living room of his home in the Junesville area of Belize City. According to Training Officer of the National Fire Service, Kenneth Mortis, statistics show that in this period many fires are caused by the misuse of extension cords. News Five spoke with Mortis on precautions that must be taken to ensure safety.
Kenneth Mortis, Training Officer, Nat’l Fire Service
“Here we have a common extension cord. There’s nothing wrong with this unit except that it’s primary use is not for heavy duty machinery such as your eight cubic foot refrigerator or heavy washer dryer so forth. This can be used for light weight stuff such as the fan and irons, even your Christmas lights that you plan to use for the upcoming December lighting festivities. We do not recommend these for heavy duty equipment. For the use of extension cords for heavy duty equipment, we more recommend the thicker grade ones. These have a heavier price value like I mentioned, but these are the ones that are best recommended to do the job if you want to supply electricity to your refrigerators or washing machines, dryers and so forth. An overload on the extension cord is something that shouldn’t be taken likely. You can say oh I’m going to put up two thousand lights and I’m going to require for example, five or six extension cords. If you do the math, that’s going to cost you like roughly thirty, thirty-five bucks. But what would you prefer losing; forty bucks on a heavy duty extension cord or years of work in what you’ve tried to establish to call your home?”
Duane Moody
“What is the Fire Service doing to advocate against the misuse of extension cords within the society mainlining when it comes to this Christmas season?”
Kenneth Mortis
“We are now or actually we have ever since been doing our fire safety campaign. Our fire safety team is out there vigorously. They are meeting with not only business people, but they are now doing home to home visits. The fire team will be doing our regular annual TV and radio talk shows. We can only do our part as a department for an essential service but it’s up to the balance of us, the people, the community to actually adhere to the message we are sending out to them.”
