By Lydia Crawley, The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS, W.Va. — The first few inches of winter have fallen upon the mountain in Tucker County and the mercury has begun to fall. Which means that residents of Tucker County will begin bundling up, cranking their thermostats and stoking those wood stoves and fire places. Here are a few tips from Tucker County OEM Director and Parsons Fire Chief Kevin White and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to help residents safely stay warm this season.
According to the NFPA, heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fire deaths with fire departments responding to an estimated 40,997 fires involving heating equipment a year between 2018 and 2022 which accounted for 12% of all home fires during that time and resulted in 470 deaths.
Space heaters and heating stoves were the most responsible heating equipment, according to the NFPA, resulting in nearly half of all fires at 46%, but also resulted in 76% of deaths and 72% of injuries caused by heating equipment.
The NFPA also reports that fires caused by fireplaces or chimneys were involved in fewer than one in ten fires caused by heating equipment at 8%, but caused over one fourth of the direct property damage at 27%.
According to the NFPA, almost half of all heating equipment fires at 46% occur between the three month period of December to February each year.
