Last Updated on 25/02/2015 by Candles Recharge

FACT: According to Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) they had attended 154 candle-related residential fires in the 22 months to April 2011.

Using candles at home will always be popular and if you don’t want to switch to our flameless tea light candles then I would like to offer you these tips for how to take the necessary fire safety precautions to be candle safe at home:

• Never leave candles unattended- a fire can take hold in only 5 minutes.
• Make sure candles are on a secure base or in sturdy non-combustible holders that will not tip over and set alight flammable items such as curtains or upholstery.
• Keep candles well away from items that can catch fire, such as clothing, books, paper, curtains, Christmas trees and flammable decorations etc.
• Use candles only with constant adult supervision.
• Never place them near an open window (where blinds or curtains can close over them) or near opened flammable liquid containers.
• Extinguish any lit candles if you leave the room and always before going to bed.
• Ensure you have a working smoke alarm fitted. If you don’t have smoke alarms, you should install them now.
• Prepare and rehearse a home fire escape plan so you know the quickest routes out of your home if your smoke alarm activates.
• Do not use candles in places where they can be knocked over by children or pets.

When there are young children present, please observe these candle safety measures:

• Keep candles up high, where they are out of reach of children.
• Never leave a child unattended in a room with a candle.
• A child should not sleep in a room with a lit candle.
• Keep all matches and lighters up high and out of the sight and reach of children, preferably in a locked cabinet.

Tips during power outages for candle safety:

• Torches/flashlights and other lights generated by batteries (such as flameless tea light candles) are much safer light sources than candles.
• Try to avoid carrying a lit candle.
• When going into confined spaces like a walk-in robe, don’t carry a lit candle in with you.
• Never use a candle for light when fuelling equipment such as a kerosene heater or lantern.

I hope that these tips help you to avoid becoming one of the numbers in the opening statistic. Of course if you forego using real candles and use flameless tea light candles then you won’t be at risk accidentally causing a fire in your home.

Images courtesy of:

South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service