Safe Use of Portable Heaters
Launch library · evergreen read
Portable heaters remain a fairly common cause of household fires, largely because they are placed far too close to curtains, bedding or other furniture, or simply left running genuinely unattended in a room while everyone in the house is asleep or has already gone out for the evening.
Keeping heaters at least a full metre away from anything flammable nearby, placing them on a stable, flat surface rather than a soft rug or an uneven floor, and never draping clothing over one to dry it out, all meaningfully reduce this particular, well documented household risk considerably.
Choosing a heater fitted with a genuine tip-over safety switch and reliable overheat protection, and checking carefully that the cord is not running under a rug or through a doorway where it could easily be damaged, adds a further, genuinely useful layer of protection at home.
Never leaving a portable heater running overnight or in an entirely empty room, even just briefly while stepping away, removes one of the single most common circumstances in which heater-related household fires actually tend to occur in the first place, according to fire safety authorities.