PSA: Candle Safety

[wvdisluv2]

PLEASE be careful this holiday season (and always) with candles. Nine years ago this month my husband and I lost our home, our belongings, and most importantly, 2 of our 3 dogs in a housefire caused by a three wick candle I thought I'd put out. It has taken me a long time to come to terms with the guilt I've felt, but I will put this PSA out every year and hope it will bring awareness to a sometimes forgotten topic.

http://www.candles.org/safety_rules.html

Happy Thanksgiving All

 

[HeatherH]

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry for your loss!

Thank you for the reminder! I have always been a bit of a candle-phobe since forgetting about a jar candle myself...luckily it burned itself out, but I know it could have been dangerous.

You're doing a good thing with this reminder. I hope you have forgiven yourself for what was obviously an accident.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I don't burn candles as we had an incident when my DD was about 2.5 years old. I had the candle up high on top of the TV cabinet. This was the only place I would burn it as she couldn't reach up over 5' tall. Unfortunately she could push her little table over to the TV cabinet, climb on the table, pop out her video and throw it on top of the TV. Yep, on top of the burning candle. We lost nothing but the video and caused minor burns to two cabinets. I haven't burned one since. DH keeps telling me to get the battery operated ones but I don't even have a desire to see them anymore.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Thanks for the remider. I was thinking of lighting one. Im terrified of fire but ocationally light one. Also remember to watch your pets near candles. I have a male moron cat (he heard train when god said brains and ran to the window), who has sniffed candles multiple times and lost alot of facial fur due to this! His nose is still not the right color.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I am so sorry for your loss, and thank you for the reminder. I have a whole box of Yankee Candles I'm giving out for Christmas gifts and I'll be sure to give a gentle reminder when I do.

The dog in your lower picture looks a lot like my Maxy. <--That's him in my avatar, and I wish I could get as nice a picture as yours. Mine has big brown eyes, too--not sure how well that shows. Black dogs are hard to photograph.

 

[laurie31]

I am so sorry for your loss.

Thank you for helping to educate others.

Let me also mention the dangers of letting your live (not artificial) Christmas tree get dried out. They can be a serious fire hazzard.

Also, please think about how you're getting out in case of fire, in advance. People talk about having an escape plan, but don't often follow through. I was talking to a woman at a Scrapbooking retreat and she was saying that in case of a fire, she would get out her scrapbooks, her viola, her wedding gown, etc. etc. and I looked at her and said, "You know you only have 2 minutes." She was shocked. She had no idea it could happen so fast. This video http://tv.monstrous.com/play.php?vid=1138 shows how a dry Christmas tree is a fire hazzard, but it also illustrates just how fast a room can become totally involved, regardless of how the fire starts. Your whole house can become involved in 2 minutes. We only pray we could get out with our children and hopefully our pets. We do have a plan for the pets, but they are animals and will instinctively hide when they are frightened. It can be impossible to find them in time, like the OP experienced, even if you do have a plan.


Also, be careful of space heaters and extension cords.

Have a safe and merry holiday season!

 

[Mysteria]

How tragic. So sorry for your loss. Very good reminder for everyone.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

OP - Bumping this back up to page 1 for the morning crowd.

And Laurie, thanks for the reminder about the Christmas trees. I water ours daily!

 

[agnes!]

Thanks to the OP and others for the reminders about fire safety. wvdisluv2 - so sorry for your loss.

True story. My mom (a now-retired doctor) was at a holiday party several years ago when a woman's HAIR caught on fire from a candle that the woman had kind of backed up into. And what was bad was her hair had lots of hairspray on it (and hairspray is highly-flammable). Luckily my mom saw it start to happen and told her that her hair was just starting to catch on fire so a tragedy was averted.

But still scary to think about.

agnes!

 

[MIGrandma]

First of all, I'm so sorry about your home, belongings and your dogs.

But that's why they're called "accidents", you didn't do it on purpose.

But thank you for reminding everyone about candle safety. I'm nervous with my candles, knowing how easy it would be to forget one that is still lit. What I do with mine is put it in the kitchen sink if I have to go outside for any reason, or to go to the bathroom, etc.

 

[lukenick1]

Thanks for the remider. I was thinking of lighting one. Im terrified of fire but ocationally light one. Also remember to watch your pets near candles. I have a male moron cat (he heard train when god said brains and ran to the window), who has sniffed candles multiple times and lost alot of facial fur due to this! His nose is still not the right color.

OMG Im sorry this happened to your cat but I have to admit i chuckled reading this. You are funny! What a dummy!

 

[Briarmom]

I am so very sorry. Thank you for the reminder.

 

[pixiewings71]

Good reminder, and remember it wasn't your fault, it was an accident. We had a house fire at 3 am New Years Day, almost 4 years ago now. We too lost many pets and many possessions, it really does only take about 2 minutes. We had enough time to get the dog and cats out after we got the kids out, that was it......we lost rodents, fish and reptiles.

 

[wvdisluv2]

Thank you all so much for your kind words and 's SO many good reminders here for not just the holiday season in general, but every day! I have finally realized this was an "accident" and I have forgiven myself, but it was a long time coming~I'd hate for anyone to have to go through the same painful journey if it could be avoided. We were at work when the house caught fire and our 11 yr old boxer/lab Daisy is our survivor~we still have her today (she's the yellow dog in my avatar) with her buddy Jake. (she hated being an only dog~go figure?!)

*Janice~Maxy is a beauty! And you're right~black dogs ARE hard to photograph!)

Thank you all again!

 

[luvdzny]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I love burning scented candles - but the only place I do it is on my stove top. There isn't really much around there that is flammable, so I figure it is safer then in the living room etc.

 

[chisnpeke]

I'm so so sorry for your loss. Your pups were beautiful. God bless you and your family.