ATLANTA — Cooking fires are the leading cause for house fires year-round but heating comes in second and tends to outpace cooking fires during the colder months.
"The uptick is unfortunate truth," explained Atlanta Fire Rescue Captain Michael Roman.
The numbers start to rise in October and November and then peak in January.
Atlanta Fire Rescue said firefighters responded to 29 residential fires between October 1 and November 20, 2022. Captain Roman said as the temperatures drop at night, they start to see people pull out the space heaters and kerosene type heating devices.
"The most common thing is that they're left unattended," Captain Roman added.
Whether it's a short in the chord or the heater being to close to something flammable, it only takes a split second to ignite.
According to Roman, "most manufactures recommend two to three feet away from a wall or piece of furniture."
The most important thing when it comes to saving lives in a house fire is a smoke detector. Captain Roman said they are crucial to alerting you and it's important to check to make sure your smoke detector is working.
"The big component is we just had a time change, every six months change your batteries," he explained.
Captain Roman also pointed out if you need help with your smoke detectors or have any questions at all, stop by your local fire department.
"If you need something come talk to us sometimes we have boxes of them and we can help hand those out and install them as well," he said.