Category: Public Service Announcement

As the nation gears up to decorate their homes for the holiday season, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reminds consumers of decorating dangers and provides tips for a safe holiday. CPSC demonstrated some of the hazards, including Christmas tree and candle fires at its laboratory in Rockville, Md. See CPSC’s broadcast quality video.

“Safety should be part of all your decorating efforts,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle. “Make sure your live Christmas tree has plenty of water, keep lit candles away from flammable items, and use caution when standing on a ladder or a chair to hang decorations.”

Holiday decorating-related injuries:

CPSC estimates the following holiday decoration-related emergency room-treated injuries nationwide during last year’s holiday season.

• 14,700 holiday decorating related ER-treated injuries. That’s an average of about 240 injuries per day during the holiday season of November and December!
• The most frequent holiday decorating incidents involved falls (41%), lacerations (10%) and back strains (5%).
• 3 deaths involving ladder falls.

Fires involving Christmas Trees and Candles

[ultimatetables 16 /]

*Average annual estimates from 2012 to 2014 entire calendar year.
**Average annual estimates from 2012 to 2014 for the months of November through December.

Follow these CPSC safety tips to keep your family safe:

Trees and Decorations

1. Buying a live tree? Check for freshness. A fresh tree is green, its needles are hard to pull from branches, and its needles do not break when bent between your fingers. The bottom of a fresh tree is sticky with resin, and when tapped on the ground, the tree should not lose many needles.
2. Setting up a tree at home? Place it away from heat sources, such as fireplaces, vents, and radiators. Heated rooms rapidly dry out live trees, be sure to monitor water levels daily and keep the tree stand filled with water. Place the tree out of the way of foot traffic and do not block doorways with the tree.
3. Buying an artificial tree? Look for the label: “Fire Resistant.” Although this label does not mean that the tree will not catch fire, the tree is more resistant to catching fire.
4. Decorating a tree in homes with small children? Avoid sharp or breakable decorations. Keep trimmings with small removable parts out of the reach of small children who could swallow or inhale small pieces. Avoid trimmings that resemble candy or food that may tempt a child to try to eat them.

Candles

1. Keep burning candles within sight. Extinguish all candles before leaving the room.
2. Keep candles on a stable, heat-resistant surface where children and pets cannot reach them or knock them over. Place lit candles away from items that can catch fire such as trees, decorations, curtains and furniture.

Lights

1. Only use lights tested for safety by a nationally recognized testing laboratory. Lights for both indoor and outdoor usage must meet strict standards that testing laboratories are able to verify.
2. Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections. Throw out damaged sets and do not use electric lights on a metallic tree.
3. Check each extension cord to make sure it is rated for the intended use and is in good condition. Do not use cords with cuts or signs of fraying.
4. Check outdoor lights for labels showing the lights have been certified for outdoor use and only plug them into a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI)-protected receptacle or a portable GFCI.

Fireplaces

1. Use care with “fire salts,” which produce colored flames when thrown onto wood fires. Fire salts contain heavy metals that can cause intense gastrointestinal irritation and vomiting if swallowed. Keep them away from children.
2. Do not burn wrapping paper in the fireplace. A flash fire may result because wrappings can ignite suddenly and burn intensely.

Smoke alarms

1. CPSC recommends having working smoke alarms on every floor of the home and in every bedroom. The early warning provided by smoke alarms saves lives.
2. Test your smoke alarms every month to make sure they are working properly.
3. Change batteries in smoke alarms every year.

You can also find more fire safety tips and information in our fire safety information center.

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) –

Authorities in a city in upstate New York are concerned that drugs that look like candy may soon hit the community.

Police in Elmira, a city in the Southern Tier, issued a press release with the subject line “Candy warning- Danger to children” about a narcotic trend that “may be present in the area.”

Read the details at http://www.fox5ny.com/news/256481631-story

This May, we’re asking you to Rock One Sock for missing children and their families! The idea is simple – missing children’s issues don’t affect everyone directly, but anyone can show they care. When you Rock One Sock that’s your symbol of support. You can help just by raising awareness with Rock One Sock and by donating to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Here’s how it works:
Wear one sock and take a picture or video to show how you rocked that sock!
Post it to social media using the hashtag #RockOneSock
Donate to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to support our work to bring missing children home and challenge your friends to do the same!

Join Us & Rock One Sock
during the month of May to show your support in time for
National Missing Children’s Day on May 25!
Let’s show missing children and their families that they are not forgotten
and that people everywhere care about them.

Donate Here!

Traditionally, we don’t think of springtime as a time to be particularly aware of fires and fire safety, but it is a time when we should be especially aware. As warmer weather approaches, fun involving family, friends and kids, moves to the outdoors with activities like hiking, picnicking and camping picking up steam. The more people camp, the greater likelihood of campfires. And frequently, people who are not necessarily familiar with fires and fire safety travel to wooded areas to share that first breath of spring. Ironically, that breath could be filled with smoke if people are not careful or simply don’t know… campfire safety.

[wrc_column grid=”3″ width=”2″ type=”start”]As any Boy Scout will tell you, before you build a fire in a campground or wooded area, consult the area’s Park Ranger, to see if there are particular burning or campfire rules or other information regarding fire associated with that particular Park. It may not be a good time to burn, period! Once you know the rules, you need to look around your proposed campfire site. Note your location–where you and your fire will be in case of any emergency! Are there hanging branches or dry brush within a radius of ten feet from your proposed fire or grill? Sparks or burning particles from your fire can travel on a current of air, so you had better make sure the vicinity of your proposed campfire is clear of any burnable debris, hanging branches, dry brush, and grass (or any other object!) that could burn and cause sparks to fly and that there is no wind! Make sure there are no flammable items in the area of your proposed campfire–and that includes clothing, chair pillows, toys, etc.[/wrc_column][wrc_column grid=”3″ width=”1″ type=”end”][/wrc_column]
Once you have cleared all debris, (including grass and garbage) from a five-foot ring around your proposed campfire, so that cleared soil is exposed in that five-foot ring, you can place rocks around the ring to help contain the campfire, and begin to build your campfire.

When building a fire, you should have water nearby (and if your camper or RV has one, as it should, a fire extinguisher is an added safety device). A shovel and a bucket, for dirt or water, to help douse the fire when you are done toasting or roasting or just keeping warm is also a necessity. Start to lay your fire by building a teepee of small firewood adding larger dry pieces of wood as the fire grows. Do not use “firelighter” or other flammable liquids or kerosene to start your fire as the fire may grow too large and get out of hand very quickly! Who’s watching the fire? Someone needs to keep an eye on the fire at all times. This is not a joke. If this is a sleep-over, make sure to put out your campfire completely before hitting the sack. Douse the fire with water and/or dirt and make sure the coals are stirred and cold before leaving that campfire site.

We are fortunate to have excellent parks in America and areas where people can get out-of-doors to enjoy natural surroundings. We need to protect our woodland areas and parks, so that they can continue to be enjoyed by all. Remember Smokey’s warning, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires!” Please, if you smoke, remember to properly extinguish cigarettes while in a wooded area or park. Ninety (90) percent of wildfires in the United States are caused by humans.

You’ve probably noticed the high temperatures throughout the Country lately, and the frequent severe thunderstorm warnings broadcast by television, radio and the Internet’s weather websites. Pay attention to these warnings. Storms have caused flooding recently in West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Minnesota, to name only a few states.

Downpours falling into creeks, tributaries and rivers can cause flood waters to rise fast. In the end-June storm in West Virginia, at least 26 people were estimated to have died as a result of the flooding in Kanawha County. Downed trees and power lines also caused major power outages. A 4-year old was swept away by flood waters in Jackson County, and an 8-year old Ravenswood boy was killed as a result of the storm. (www.cnn.com/2016/06/24/us/west-virginia-flooding-deaths/)

You can’t be too prepared for disastrous flooding. There are some things you can do now to help mitigate the effects of storms on you and your family. Here is a storm preparation checklist from the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) along with a few safety tips you can use:

Things You Need Before the Storm Strikes to Be Safe:

1. Flashlights with fresh batteries. Test your flashlights to make sure they work.
2. Battery-powered radio or TV, with extra batteries. Again test it to make sure!
3. Land-line phone with cord–cordless phones require electricity. But, make sure
   if you do not have a land-line that you have a cell phone and it is charged. (However,
   remember if the cell towers are down or knocked out there may be no service.)
4. Battery-powered or wind-up alarm clock.
5. Accessible supply of bottled water.
6. Non-perishable foods that require no heating.
7. Blankets, bedding or sleeping bags.
8. First-aid kit and your prescription medications (make sure your kit is also up to date!).
9. Hand-operated can opener (to open those canned non-perishable foods).
10. Any special items for infants, the elderly or family members with special needs.
11. Some hand-tools (pliers, wrench, hammer–if you need to break a window…)
12. List of emergency phone numbers and the phone number of your power company.
13. ID and copies of important family documents in a waterproof container.
14. Some cash (ATMs may be unavailable).

The REC also recommends that you NEVER touch ANY downed electric or other wire and stay at least 50 feet from ANY downed line. Do not attempt to remove any trees or debris from downed lines. Immediately report downed power lines by calling 911.

This is something everyone can do. When you get out of your car at the grocery or shopping center, look around.

If there is someone, a child, an elderly person, or an animal, alone in a parked vehicle with the windows up…and no a.c. running (and the windows should not be completely rolled up with the a.c. running either… Noxious fumes!), call 911 and head for the mgr of the store. Tell them. It’s their pkg lot. They have to do something immediately!

A few months ago in a Walmart pkg lot, I saw a young girl nursing her child in the driver’s seat of a car, windows rolled up, a.c. running. I tapped on the window and told her to crack a window or two…she thanked me and I breathed a sigh of relief. At least she responded positively. That won’t always happen. A woman with a special needs child in a car in the food lion parking lot in Timberville, VA., on a hot day with the windows rolled up, yelled at me for telling her. I really wish I had called 911, instead of talking to that “lady”. So calling 911 is probably the safest bet.

You can’t believe how many “smart” people do these mindless things. There have been 18 heatstroke deaths of young children who have suffocated in hot cars so far this year. Please pass it on, be observant and do what you can.

Thanks!

It’s Time to Shout About It…

Every 10 days, vehicular heatstroke kills a child in the United States. Every 10 days, a parent loses a child to a preventable death. Since 1998, there have been 684 deaths, 23 of which happened this year. It’s time to stop vehicular heatstroke from killing our children. The time to take action is now!

On July 31, National Heatstroke Prevention Day, NHTSA will be tweeting every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. to raise awareness about the dangers of heatstroke. Join us in this life-saving conversation with tweets and retweets of your own. Take this message to your friends, families, and followers, and tell them to share it, too.

Who: NHTSA and YOU!

What: #HeatstrokeKills Tweet Up

When: Sunday, July 31, 2016, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET

Where: www.twitter.com/NHTSAgov

How: Follow the conversation using the hashtag #HeatstrokeKills. Feel free to mention @NHTSAgov in any of your tweets and we will get back to as many questions and comments as we can! Remember to include #HeatstrokeKills in your comments so others can follow along with the conversation, too.

Invite your friends and followers to join us and spread this important message.

Spread the message. Make a difference. Take action. Save a life.

Follow NHTSA on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with the latest recalls and safety campaigns.