Spring Fire Department warns of fire, carbon monoxide dangers during cold weather

SPRING, Texas - This week's freezing temperatures are coming with a warning from the fire department.

Unfortunately, the mistakes made as we simply try to keep warm in freezing weather often happen inside homes and can turn dangerous or deadly before you know it.

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"The biggest thing that we're talking about right now is heater safety. You have two types of heaters in your house. The ones that are built into your house, whether that's a furnace or baseboard heat, and then you have space heaters, the ones that you buy and bring into your home. They can both be a hazard to you, and we want to make sure you're using them safely. With space heaters, the big thing that we talk about is make sure that it has three feet around it so that it doesn't catch anything on fire. They get very, very hot and things like curtains, couches, pillows, kids' toys can cause a fire," explains Spring Fire Department Deputy Chief of Strategic Services Landon Churchill.

Heaters brought in to heat homes can also be a source of carbon monoxide poisoning.

"Usually, space heaters are designed for indoor use, but there are other types of heaters, like a patio heater, that is running on propane. Those are designed for outdoor use and so anything that's designed for outdoor use is going to create a lot of carbon monoxide, which is colorless and odorless, or it's an invisible gas that will kill you. So what we really want everybody to do is make sure they have a carbon monoxide detector in their house and check to make sure it has fresh batteries," Dep. Chief Churchill said while talking with us about safety as his employees were double-checking their equipment and making sure they are ready for whatever the weather brings.

"Just made sure everything's working fine and also cleaned and detailed everything. We're going to be checking all the tires and making sure that they're at the proper rating for air because as the temperature gets colder, the tires will tend to lose air," Spring Fire Department Firefighter Trevor Duncan said. 

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Churchill is also reminding everyone, "We don't want you to use anything to heat your home that's not designed to heat your home, so an oven, a barbecue grill, an outdoor heater. Any of these things are not safe to do."

Churchill says to always supervise space heaters at all times. Do not leave them in a room unattended, such as in an attic, to keep pipes from freezing.

He also says regularly have your furnace and fireplace maintained. 

"Your fireplace, if that gets all blocked up with creosote, then the smoke and the carbon monoxide can't make it out of your house and will start to fill your house. Again, a great reason to have a carbon monoxide detector, because you won't be able to smell that when it happens," Churchill said.