As the weather cools down, apartment occupants need to be safe when warming up.

While many residence halls typically have a centralized heating system, apartment buildings typically use a forced air furnace or electric baseboard heaters, said Lt. Karl Froehlich, fire prevention officer with the DeKalb Fire Department.

“Electric baseboard heat has a pretty large potential for a fire hazard,” Froehlich said. “If you put combustibles against [the heater], it could start a fire.”

Froehlich said a similar element in electric baseboard heaters are in electric stoves. A bed placed too close can lead to sheets and blankets, which are combustible, being tossed onto the heating surface, he said.

Froehlich said last winter the department had at least two fires where combustibles too close to the heating unit caused the fire.

Space heaters also have hazards similar to those of electric baseboard heaters.
“We don’t want people to use space heaters,” he said. “They can be dangerous things if you don’t keep track of them, similar to candles.”

People should have furnaces in homes serviced and furnace filters replaced, according to a DeKalb Fire Department press release. Changing batteries in smoke detectors and installing carbon monoxide detectors within 15 feet of every room used for sleeping is also advised.

“A plugged furnace filter can contribute to carbon monoxide spilling into your home,” according to the release.

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