Here are some tips for avoiding a home fire this holiday season

PHOENIX — Home fires are one of the quickest ways to ruin a holiday celebration.

To make sure your holidays are not spent fighting flames, Glendale Fire Department spokeswoman Ashley Losch offered a few tips.

“In the holidays, we like to have our fires, we like to have our candles, the ambiance is wonderful,” Losch said, “But again, that’s a hazard. So if you have a candle near — say — curtains or anything flammable you want to make sure it is moved away.”

Candles and fireplaces, however are not the only causes to spark flames during the winter.

“I love a nice new Christmas tree that smells amazing but they do have dangers that come with them,” Losch said.

She offered two tips on how to avoid starting a fire from the Christmas tree.

“Making sure if you have a real tree really monitoring your lights,” she said. “Don’t get the lights that are old and hot, make sure you have a LED light.”

Turning off lights overnight doesn’t only save on the electricity bill; it can also prevent harmful fire damage.

“Another thing people don’t think about is when you have your Christmas lights on your home,” she said. “You want to make sure you are turning your Christmas lights off before you go to bed because you could have an exterior fire and you may not even know it.”

Losch also said the fire department usually sees an uptick in calls to assist choking victims during the holidays, due to different types of traditional holiday dishes that are not fully chewed.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ali Vetnar contributed to this report.

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