HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — We all lead busy lives, sometimes we forget to do the laundry or we let a damaged electric cord remain damaged until it becomes a fire hazard. Obviously, the latter has worse consequences.
So, if checking out the electrical cords you use is not a part of your routine, you can start by checking for indicators.
"If your lights flicker in your house, that's an indicator that you may have a damaged wiring. It could be a mouse in your attic or a squirrel that has chewed through the insulation on the wiring," said Huntsville Fire Marshal, Dan Wilkerson. "Also, if you have a breaker that trips or blows a fuse, there's a reason that breaker tripped. So, find out what the source of the cause was. And don't just reset the breaker and just treat the symptom. You know, there's an underlying cause. So if you're constantly having to reset a breaker, you probably got something going on that could eventually cause a fire."
In many instances, especially while camping in an RV, you may not be thinking about carbon monoxide poisoning, but Wilkerson says wherever you spend time, a detector should be.
"It's important to have a carbon monoxide detector anywhere that you are, whether it's in your garage or in an RV in your home," said Wilkerson. "A lot of people don't check their smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in there, so if you're going to use an RV, make sure you have a working smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector."
When it comes to playing it safe outside of the RV, there are also some things you can do to keep your campfire safe.
"You want to be very cautious that you're not using it around dry vegetation, that could start a wildland fire. You want to make sure that you clear out an area where you have a campfire but you also want it to where there's not a lot of pets or small children around it. Because you don't want somebody falling into the campfire," said Wilkerson.