取暖季开启，美国消防局 USFA 提醒：电暖器离可燃物至少3英尺，离房和睡觉时必须关掉
10月中旬，美国多地夜间气温走低，家庭陆续开启暖气和电暖器，取暖季随之开始。美国消防局 USFA（U.S. Fire Administration，隶属联邦紧急事务管理署 FEMA）与美国国家消防协会 NFPA 共同推动的冬季防火项目「让冬季火灾冻结」（Put a Freeze on Winter Fires）公布了取暖季火灾数据与安全要点。
USFA 的数据显示，美国每年约半数家庭取暖火灾集中发生在12月、1月和2月三个月；全部家庭火灾中，每7起就有1起与取暖设备有关，每5起家庭火灾死亡中就有1起与取暖设备有关。
电暖器的用法是重点：放在平整、坚实的地面上，与床品、窗帘、家具等一切可燃物保持至少3英尺距离，儿童和宠物不要靠近；离开房间或睡觉时必须关掉；插头直接插墙上插座，一个插座只接一台发热电器，不要使用接线板。选购时认准带倾倒自动断电功能、并贴有公认检测实验室标志的产品。另外，不要用烤箱给家里取暖，也不要往煤油取暖器里加汽油。
壁炉与烟囱方面，每年请有资质的专业人员检查并清扫烟囱和通风口一次；壁炉前要装牢固的防火屏；燃尽的灰烬冷却后装进带盖的金属容器，放到室外、离房屋至少10英尺。
报警器方面，每个卧室、每个睡眠区外侧和住宅的每一层都要装烟雾报警器，并每月测试一次；同时安装一氧化碳报警器、同样每月测试。燃油、燃气的取暖系统每年请专业人员检修一次；便携式发电机只能在室外远离门窗处使用，绝不能在车库内或室内运转。
Heating Season Is Here: Keep Space Heaters 3 Feet From Anything That Burns and Turn Them Off at Night, USFA Says
With mid-October nights turning cold across much of the United States, households are switching on furnaces and space heaters — and the U.S. Fire Administration USFA, part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA, has published its heating-season safety guidance through the “Put a Freeze on Winter Fires” campaign run with the National Fire Protection Association NFPA.
According to USFA, about half of all home heating fires in the U.S. occur in December, January and February; heating equipment is involved in 1 in every 7 home fires and in 1 in every 5 home fire deaths.
For space heaters, the guidance is specific: place them on a flat, level surface at least 3 feet from bedding, drapes, furniture and anything else that can burn, and keep children and pets away. Turn the heater off every time you leave the room and before going to bed. Plug it directly into a wall outlet — one heat-producing appliance per outlet, never an extension cord or power strip — and choose models with an automatic tip-over shut-off and the label of a recognized testing laboratory. Never use an oven to heat a home, and never put gasoline in a kerosene heater.
Fireplaces and chimneys should be inspected and cleaned by a qualified professional every year; use a sturdy screen in front of the fireplace, and put cooled ashes in a covered metal container stored outside, at least 10 feet from the home.
USFA also calls for smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home, tested monthly, plus carbon monoxide alarms, also tested monthly. Fuel-burning heating systems should be professionally inspected once a year, and portable generators must run outdoors, well away from windows — never in a garage or inside the home.
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：一台陶瓷电暖器特写（资料图）。Tony Webster 摄，CC BY 2.0，via Wikimedia Commons / Photo: Close-up of an electric ceramic space heater (file photo). Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
