Enjoy Your Candles / Keep Safety In Mind

3 days without posting, guess I have been busier than I knew, seems they just flew by, I did go shopping for Bill yesterday so that part is done. Bill and I received a shock Saturday night, we thought we were going for a simple dinner at his daughters’ house and were very surprised by his whole family, well almost all being there to celebrate is 60th birthday. That was very nice for him and he had no clue, I’m really glad they didn’t put that many candles on his cake, it could have been a real hazard ( joke Bill ).

Speaking of candles they are being used more and more as a part of everyones home decor, not just for illumination and fragrance, you’ll notice a lot more during holiday seasons. We use them to set moods and sometimes I worry because there have been many accidental fires because proper care wasn’t taken.The designs and fragrance are meant to match the home decor and we use candles to make the atmosphere special for special occasions. People love candles and love the idea of decorating with them, but statistics are showing that candles are becoming one of the main sources of fires in the home.

It’s very important to take extra precautions when handling burning candles. The best thing to do is to put the candle in a heat resistance environment. You need to be extra careful while handling tea lights and night lights because they prone to get very hot, hot enough to heat and melt plastic. Usually the television is considered the best candle stand, but the material that they make televisions out of is not usually fire resistance. So it’s very important to have a proper candle holder that is stable and wont fall over and should firmly hold the candle upright.

Always be careful of curtains or any loose fabric of furniture or clothing. Curtains and loose fabric fly around the place and have a high probability of catching fire. Also the candle shouldn’t be in a reachable distance so that if a person leans over he may tip the candle over. This could be dangerous because it could catch the clothes or hair on fire. Always be very cautious in areas that pets and children play in, make sure burning candles are out of reach and will not be bumped and fall over.

It is a good idea to never put a burning candle under a shelve, which I’m sure most people wouldn’t, but you would be surprised by the amount of people that simply don’t think. Besides that’s a very easy place to forget and because of the high amount of heat generated it’s very easy for the surface above it to catch fire.

Putting a burning candle under any other surface is also not recommended, besides the heat damage, the smoke can also leave unwanted deposits. There should be a distance of at least one meter or three feet between the burning candle and the surface above it. Two burning candles should also be kept apart at a distance of at least ten centimeters or four inches.

Scented and votive candles change their state to liquid in order to release the fragrance. Therefore, these scented and votive candles must be placed in a metal or glass holder cup so the melted liquid is captured in the cup. Also, care must be taken that nothing should fall into the hot wax such as a match stick.

Candles shouldn’t be moved while they are burning always make sure that your candles are extinguished because there’s always a chance that it could be dropped. Instead of blowing the candle out a spoon can be used to put the flame out. Because blowing can send hot wax and sparks flying, which can result in a fire.

Burning candles should never be left unattended. They should be extinguished before the room is left. Never sleep while the candles are still burning and you know never to leave burning oil or candles in a child’s bedroom. Always double check to make sure all candles are extinguished because they can still be smoldering and start a fire, you can’t be too careful. No one wants to see a special occasion turn into a disaster. So enjoy those beautiful candles this holiday, but make sure you use caution.