In recent years candles have become a staple of home décor providing not just light and a nice scent but contributing to the decorations of a room. There are candles that are designed to create more positive feelings or elevate someone’s mood. There are candles that are designed to fit in with any style of home design imaginable. But as people’s love for candles grows there is an added risk of fire as well. Statistics have show that fires caused by burning candles is increasing every year and that trend is likely to continue if homeowners don’t take precautionary measures. Simple carelessness can mean the difference between averting a fire or losing your home and possessions.
Of course many would say that the simplest solution is to simply never burn candles, but this is largely impractical since at some point one will get lit by someone. The best thing is to keep candles in a safe environment where the risk of fire is minimal anyway. You need to be very careful when handling night-lights or tea lights. These become very hot and can even melt plastic. A lot of people mistakenly believe that keeping a candle on a television is safe, but the materials in a television are not fire resistant. It is very important to have proper candleholders for all of your candles. A candleholder should be stable and be able to hold the candle upright securely. It should be made of a material that is not likely to heat up or melt, ceramic or glass are good choices.
Votive and scented candles melt and become a liquid in order to release the scent. These must be placed in a glass or metal cup to catch the melted liquid. Also be sure that no foreign objects fall into the wax or it can catch fire. Snuff out the flame on these candles to reduce the risk of blowing hot wax onto something flammable.
Finally, a burning candle should never be left unattended. Never leave the room or go to sleep without extinguishing all candles. Double check just to be sure you didn’t miss any before leaving the room completely.
