Safe and Sound

Farmington Hills Fire Shares Home Heating Equipment Safety Tips

Heating equipment is a leading cause of home fires during the winter.

The Farmington Hills Fire Department would like to make all residents aware that heating equipment is a leading cause of many home fires during the winter months. Home furnaces should be checked annually by a qualified contractor to ensure that they are operating safely and efficiently. Alternative equipment such as fireplaces, fixed space heaters, water heaters, and portable space heaters, if used improperly or not maintained, may all contribute to the cause of a home fire. Throughout the U.S., heating equipment is second only to cooking equipment as the leading cause of home fires. When portable space heaters and water heaters are involved in a fire, many times it is due to combustibles being too close to the appliance. Always ensure …

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Safe and Sound

Take Precautions with Heating Equipment

Combustibles near space heaters and creosote in chimneys top the list of house fire causes.

It should come as no surprise that heating equipment, which includes fireplaces, fixed space heaters, water heaters or portable space heaters, is the leading cause of home fires during the winter months of December through February, and trails only cooking equipment as the leading cause throughout the entire year. Where portable space heaters were involved, the leading cause was combustibles too close to the appliance. The leading cause of fireplace or wood stove fires was a build up of creosote (a tar-like build up in the chimney). If you have a natural burning fireplace and haven’t had your chimney cleaned recently, now is the time to have a reputable and qualified contractor provide the service it needs. Creosote is the cause of over 14…

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County Fire Prevention Society Honors Farmington Hills Fire Marshal

Veteran firefighter Stephen Hume is named Fire Inspector of the Year.

At a recent ceremony among his peers from throughout Michigan, Farmington Hills Fire Marshal Stephen Hume was selected as the Oakland County Fire Prevention Society Fire Inspector of the Year. Hume hired on with the Farmington Hills Fire Department in 1975 as a paid, on-call firefighter and was the first career firefighter hired by the Department in 1977. He rose through the ranks to Fire Marshal in 1985. Hume oversees all the department's fire prevention efforts, including fire inspections, plan review, fire systems acceptance and compliance testing, hazardous materials, and fire investigations. Hume has headed up educational training scenarios, like burning live and artificial Christmas trees to see which burns fastest and is safest. He…

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