What to check at home for fire safety before winter

EAST CORNING, N.Y. ( WETM ) — With the fall and cold weather approaching, fire chief Mike Brenning of the Corning Joint Fire District says it is a good time for people to have their fire and carbon monoxide detectors checked in advance.

Key points mentioned by Chief Brenning include ensuring smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are functioning with new batteries, maintaining natural gas appliances, and cleaning chimneys before the cold weather sits in. Many of the carbon monoxide detectors according to Chief Brenning have a seven to ten-year life span and added that it’s essential to have them replaced to prevent any potential hazards.

“Chimney fire is a huge part of our business. Chimney fire can very easily spread into a complete house fire. Probably one of the biggest problems that we run into are your carbon monoxide detectors,” said Chief Brenning. “We deal a lot with low batteries. We deal a lot with units that are out of date, haven’t been haven’t been replaced. We’re going out on these calls, that obviously, we’re going to go, but we’re going out on these calls when they’re dead batteries, or there’s really not an emergency there.”

In addition, Chief Brenning recommends people to have a fire extinguisher at home in case of emergencies.

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