Christmas Fireplace Safety
© 2006, PennVentures LLC

Are your Christmas stockings hung on the fireplace mantel with care?

In the famous Christmas poem, the stockings were not just "hung by the chimney;" they were hung "with care." Even in the midst of describing a nocturnal visit from Santa, the author noted one important aspect of Christmas fireplace safety!

Below are some essential Christmas fireplace safety issues to keep in mind during the holidays:

• Yes, you can hang the Christmas stockings from the fireplace mantel…but only when there is no fire in the fireplace. Plan on arranging safe places you can move the stockings to when you want to light your fireplace. Some people move the stockings to small hooks concealed on a stairway banister, on a room divider, on a book case, on the molding around an archway between two rooms, or on the inside doors of the television armoire.
   
• Place Christmas trees safely away from the fireplace. No one wants a forest fire, even if it is a solo tree fire, to ruin the holiday spirit!
   
• When decorating your fireplace mantel for Christmas, keep combustible material such as holiday greenery and ribbons safely on the fireplace mantel, not draping over the edge of the mantel. A stray fireplace spark can ignite holiday decorations exposed over the fireplace mantel's edge. 
  
  Fireplace spark guards (also know as spark arresters) are a type of fireplace screen specifically designed to prevent this. Providing more spark protection for your room than most fireplace screens, the top of spark guards' screens curve up and seal against the fireplace surround. These spark guard fireplace screens protect your home from sparks that might try to shoot up and out of the fire.
   
• Candles add a lovely touch to Christmas fireplace mantel decorations. To protect your mantel decorations from their flames, use only candles with glass protection around the flames. Votive candles and jar candles shield their surroundings from the flames. For other candles, consider using hurricane candle shades, available from craft stores, to safeguard your mantel decorations from candle flames.
   
• Young children and pets are charmed by the flickering flames and warmth of a fireplace fire. Fireplace safety gates and fireplace child guard screens are designed to keep two-footed as well as four-footed little ones at a safe distance from fireplaces and wood stoves.

The winter holidays, with family, friends, and home taking center stage, are a time of heavy fireplace use. Keep your hearth both merry and safe by following these simple but important Christmas fireplace safety policies.

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