The colder temperatures have arrived, and we are starting to see all the signs of the holiday season. Families are spending more time indoors to celebrate time together with family and friends. Before your company arrives, spend a few minutes performing the following three-step fire safety check to keep you all safe and sound this holiday season.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

While most U.S. homes have smoke alarms, many of them are without a working battery. This puts families at risk, and they may not be aware of the dead or missing batteries. Two-thirds of all home fire deaths occur in homes either with no smoke alarm or no working smoke alarm.

Make sure you have plenty of smoke alarms in your home, and test them monthly. Remember to change the batteries annually, and replace the smoke alarms when they become 10 years old. Some smoke alarms have 10-year lithium batteries so that takes the risk of dead batteries out of the picture. You should have both ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms in your home.

Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire

Since cooking is the leading cause of home fires and injuries, you must remember to take out any pot or pan you are cooking in and the appropriate sized lid. If you experience an unwanted fire, you can slide the lid over the pan to put the fire out. Once done, shut off the heat to the burner and let the pan cool down.

You should also have a fire extinguisher in your home, and the kitchen area makes perfect sense, due to the fire hazard there. Your baking soda will make a good fire extinguisher, but a commercial extinguisher is pressurized to expel the extinguishing agent several feet away at the fire so you can keep a safe distance from it. To use portable extinguishers, remember the PASSword - “P” stands for Pull the pin or tape from the fire extinguisher's operating mechanism, the “A” stands for Aim the nozzle at the base of the burning fuel, the first “S” stands for Squeeze the handles together (or squeeze the button down for smaller units), and then Sweep from side to side at the base of the flames.

Deck The Halls

While the holidays bring out nicely decorated homes, never block exits with decorations, and always keep two ways out of every room in the home. To make sure you are ready, practice the escape plan with family members and any out-of-town visitors you have who will be spending the night with you.

Candles give a nice, warm feeling to your home, but can be dangerous. Keep any combustibles at least a foot away from the flame, and make sure drafts won't blow any lightweight materials, such as sheers and drapes, into the flames. Keep them out of the main path of travel, and place them on sturdy candle holders to avoid tipping.

As you chip away at your holiday list, remember to spend some time on seasonal fire safety.

Tom Kiurski is training coordinator for the Livonia Fire Department.