(KCEN) -- With the mercury dropping and heaters turning up, fire officials generally see an increase in house fires.
They say 25 percent of home heating fires and 74 percent of deaths are due to space heaters being too close to other objects.
Fire officials also say using your stove as a heater is never a good idea. The radiant heat source could ignite clothing and catch on fire.
It is also not smart to fire up your fireplace without having it checked out first.
A good chimney sweep can spot potential hazards.
People should also allow ashes from the fireplace to cool before discarding and install carbon monoxide and smoke detector alarms in your home.
