Getting Answers: Temperatures are dropping, but why is there an uptick in house fires?
SACRAMENTO — The dropping temperatures are raising concern about the large number of house fires local crews are being forced to tackle.
There's one home-grown hazard that's taking off this time of year.
"People are cooking more, they're home, so there is an opportunity for a different type of hazard," said Capt. Parker Wilbourn of Sacramento Metro Fire.
Fire crews say the danger of blazes breaking out inside people's homes goes way up every Christmas season. But this year, with inflation in play, some folks may not be maintaining their homes as well as they used to.
"What we don't want to see is chimney fires," Wilbourn said. "We do respond often to them if they're not being maintained as often as they should be."
Another big concern is fires sparked by electrical cords and outlets.
"That is one of the challenges we do see, is people plugging too many things into their outlets," Wilbourn said. "That could potentially overload that circuit."
Just last Friday, Metro Fire crews responded to a house fire in the Foothill Farms neighborhood that caused extensive damage.
Five people, including an eight-month-old baby, were inside at the time.
The initial cause was "an unpermitted electrical line that went through the dryer vent and ended up catching fire," Wilbourn said.
And now that we're seeing the coldest temperatures so far this year as we approach 2023, people are cranking up the heaters.
"What are you going to do? You have to stay warm. You don't want to freeze," one civilian said.
"That's what we do in the back part of the house. We use a space heater to keep warm at night," another civilian said.
But these portable heaters pose another fire concern.
"That space heater will fall over and potentially catch fire because it can get so warm," Wilbourn said.
Wilbourn said there is one bright spot when it comes to holiday-related blazes.
"We've seen a reduction in Christmas tree fires," he said.
That's because more people are using artificial Christmas trees and LED lights, which are cooler.
But despite the warnings, firefighters say they see the same types of calls each holiday season and the same reaction after a blaze breaks out.
"One of the most common things I hear when I speak to homeowners when I'm on a fire is 'I didn't think it would happen to me,' " Wilbourn said.