[CAL FIRE] – Home fires often occur during the cold winter months due to dangerous heating equipment or unsafe practices. Here are some important safety tips to help keep your home safe and warm this winter:

* Never use flammable liquids or excessive amounts of paper to start or accelerate a fire.

* Keep flammables away from heat sources. Wood stoves require a 36” clearance from combustible surfaces.

* The use of kerosene heaters inside the home is prohibited in California (Sec. 19881, Health and Safety Code).

* Keep children away from heat sources.

* Never leave a fire unattended.

* Wood stoves should be UL approved.

* Never attempt to heat a structure with a device that was designed for outdoor use, such as a camp stove.

* Charcoal gives off lethal amounts of carbon monoxide. Do not burn it indoors.

* Have a professional inspect and clean your chimney, stovepipe and/or furnace annually.

* Do not attempt repairs yourself.

* Keep a metal or glass screen in front of the fireplace opening. Make sure the damper is open before lighting.

* Check furnace control and emergency shut-offs to be sure they are working properly.

* If using a fossil fuel for heating, install and maintain carbon monoxide (CO) alarms to avoid the risk of CO poisoning. Make sure your home has working smoke alarms as well.

[EPA] – Across the country this holiday season, families and friends will gather around fires in woodstoves or fireplaces. But how you build that fire – and what you burn – can have a significant impact on air quality and health, both inside your home and out.

Whether you’re using a woodstove, pellet stove, or your fireplace, seeing smoke from your chimney means your fire isn’t burning efficiently or cleanly as it could.

Woodsmoke contains fine particles – also called fine particle pollution or PM_2.5 — which can harm the lungs, blood vessels and heart. People with heart, vascular or lung disease, and older adults and children are more at risk.

Here are some simple tips for building cleaner-burning fires this holiday season:

* Burn only dry, seasoned wood. Wet, or green logs, create excessive smoke – and waste fuel. How do you tell if wood has been seasoned? Listen for a hollow sound when you strike two logs together.

* Wood burns best when the moisture content is less than 20 percent. You can purchase a wood moisture meter to test the moisture content of your wood before you burn it. You can purchase these meters for as little as $20 at most home improvement retailers.

* Start a small fire with dry kindling, then add a few pieces of wood. Be sure there’s space between the pieces of wood – and give the fire plenty of air until it’s roaring.

* A smoldering fire, “dirty” glass doors on a wood stove, or smoke from the chimney are all signs that your fire needs more air – or the wood is too moist.

* Never burn household garbage, cardboard, painted or treated wood, or any wood that contains glue, such as plywood or particle board. These items release toxic chemicals when burned — and if you’re using a woodstove, they can damage it.

* Check your air quality forecast on airnow.gov before you burn. Some local areas limit woodstove and fireplace use under certain air quality conditions.

If you heat your home with wood, using an EPA-certified wood stove can help you save wood while putting less smoke into the air. In January 2014, the agency proposed updates to its requirements for newly manufactured wood heaters that will make new woodstoves, outdoor wood boilers and other wood heaters cleaner in the future. EPA anticipates issuing final requirements by Feb. 3, 2015.