Nov 21, 2005 By Steve Ferris 5 min read

Area fire officials are reminding residents to use caution if they plan to use space heaters to help stay warm this winter and reduce home heating bills. Electric, kerosene and propane space heaters can be used safely if they are properly maintained and manufacturers’ operating instructions are followed, fire officials said.

They said people never should use their stoves or ovens for heating homes and everybody should have smoke detectors.

“We beg people not to heat with their ovens and stove tops,” Uniontown Fire Chief Myron Nypaver said.

Rob Leiberger, president of the Fayette County Firemen’s Association and captain with the Connellsville Township Volunteer Fire Department, said several fires every winter are caused by accidents involving space heaters.

“Just carelessness, a lot of it,” Leiberger said.

Heating equipment is the leading cause of fires in rural areas of the country and is second only to cooking as leading cause of all residential fires, according to a 2001 U.S. Fire Administration report.

A third of all heating fires in one- and two-family residences are the result of improperly maintained heating equipment, according to the Fire Administration.

It says heating fires cause 320 civilian deaths a year, 1,300 injuries and $450 million in property damage every year.

However, the report also says the number of heating fires has decreased fourfold since 1984, primarily because the early 1980s surge in the use of space heaters and wood-burners has abated.

Leiberger said simple steps can be taken to safely use space heaters.

He said people should make sure they installed the correct wick and are using kerosene in kerosene heaters.

Using an extension cord with an electric heater can cause a fire if the gauge of the cord is smaller than the manufacturer’s recommendations. Some manufacturers advise against the use of extension cords.

“Try to meet all the specs,” Leiberger said. “If they tell you to use a certain size extension cord, use it. If they tell you not to use an extension cord, then don’t.”

Nypaver said he does not recommend plugging electric heaters into power strips.

The state building code requires all homes to have some type of central heating system – natural gas, propane, heating oil, electric or hot water heat – and space heaters can not be used as a primary source of heat, said Nypaver, who also is Uniontown’s code enforcement officer.

He said any renter in the city whose landlord does not provide central heat should contact him.

An improperly working space heater can emit carbon monoxide gas, so Nypaver said he strongly recommends the use of carbon monoxide detectors in addition to smoke detectors.

Because carbon monoxide gas is odorless, the only way to check for it is to have a detector, he said.

There are dual-function detectors that check for smoke and carbon monoxide, but Nypaver said he believes separate units perform better.

He said carbon monoxide detectors that plug directly into outlets have self-cleaning sensors and seem to work better than battery-operated units, but having a batter-powered unit is better than having none.

Jim Bittner, hazard mitigation officer for the Fayette County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), said National Fire Protection Association statistics show malfunctions or problems with all home heating devices, including furnaces, fire places, chimneys and space heaters, cause about 50,000 residential fires a year across the country and that most occur in December, January and February.

Bittner, who also is an instructor at the Pennsylvania Fire Academy and a volunteer with the Uniontown Fire Department, said the county EMA is starting to collect information about local fires and forward it to the Pennsylvania Fire Incident Reporting System (PennFIRS), which will help the county track the causes of fires so fire departments develop prevention and education programs.

PennFIRS is part of the National Fire Incident Reporting System, which also can provide assistance in preventing fires, he said.

Some steps people can take to prevent their space heaters from starting fires, Bittner said, include: buying space heaters that are approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), not placing power cords under carpets, turning the units off when no one is home and when refueling, keeping them at least 3 feet away from furniture, curtains, pets and Christmas trees. Bittner also said that people can have an electrician check the electric service in their homes to make sure they are capable of handling an electric heater.

Nypaver said people buying space heaters should look for models that will shut off automatically if they are tipped over and have internal oxygen sensors that will shut off the unit if it is not working properly.

He said kerosene heaters seem to be more dangerous that electric and propane heaters because people fill them with gasoline instead of kerosene.

Kerosene should be stored outside in approved blue plastic containers, Nypaver said, noting that red containers are for gasoline. Heaters should be filled with fuel outdoors and then brought inside, he said.

If any space heater catches fire, people should call 911 and not try to pick it up or move it, Nypaver said.

Chimneys should be cleaned once a year after the winter to remove soot and creosote buildup, he said. To reduce soot buildup, hardwoods such as oak should be burned in fireplaces instead of pine, which has a high sap content, Nypaver said.