As the weather turns colder and many individuals are finishing up with their grills, there are some tips for fire safety that should be remembered for both outside and inside homes.

Stuart Firefighter Corey Pline says that when it comes to house fires, many of the ones they respond to are caused by grills being too close to the home, along with space heaters, grease fires, and overloaded extension cords or power strips. He shares a few tips with Raccoon Valley Radio to help prevent some of these fires.

“These fires can be prevented by, if you’re grilling outside, make sure you pull the grill away from the house so it’s not too close. So if you do have a flare up, it doesn’t start your house on fire. With the space heaters, you want to make sure that they’re away from the wall in a big enough room, if it’s too small, then that could have it overheat.”

Pline mentions that for grease fires, if they aren’t too large or too dangerous, covering them or using baking soda or salt can help to get them out. Finally, he adds that by not overloading extension cords or power strips, there isn’t as much strain on them, which keeps an electrical fire from occurring.