Northwest Iowa (RI) — Temperatures have already been dipping below freezing in several Iowa cities, prompting some of us to bring our space heaters out of storage to warm up our homes at night. Lieutenant John Nelsen, of the Sioux City Fire Rescue, says it’s a bad idea to leave those devices on 24-7.
Nelsen says to never run your space heater near combustibles, like newspapers or magazines. He suggests keeping at least a three-foot ring of clearance around the devices. Also, Nelsen says you shouldn’t be surprised if your smoke detector goes off as you switch on your space heater or furnace for the first time.
He says it’s also important to snuff out any candles you have burning before heading to bed, noting that a few recent fire calls in Sioux City were due to unattended candles.
