The holidays are a time of running stoves and heaters and milesof Christmas lights, all of which are festive, but officialscaution they also can raise fire safety concerns.

Entergy spokesman Kenny Goza said while some people like to runtheir Christmas lights round the clock, it’s not the safest or mostefficient way to handle holiday displays.

“With your Christmas lights, don’t burn them all night,” hesaid. “And once you go to bed, you really should turn them off notjust for energy but safety reasons, too.”

Brookhaven Fire Chief Bob Watts said extra extension cords andoverloaded circuits are traditionally a safety concern during theholiday season, as many people don’t seem to know how many plugsare too many.

“That’s one of the big things people do is they tend to plug ina lot more stuff than they need to,” he said. “You have to be realcareful with extension cords, and don’t overload circuits orsockets. And with live trees especially, I wouldn’t leave thelights on unattended.”

Watts said the choice of a live tree or a plastic tree can makea difference in the level of safety in a home during Christmas aswell. Plastic trees are much less of a safety risk as they don’tdry up through the season, he said.

“I think they’re far safer myself, but of course it’s up to theindividual because some people don’t think they have a tree unlessthey’ve got a live tree,” he said. “Especially as the season goeson, those are going to deteriorate, and you have to be extracareful with them as they dry out.”

Holiday decorations involving candles can also be a risk, Wattssaid. While they are widely used, they are one of the biggesthazards when fire safety is in question.

“Any time you’ve got an open flame, you’ve got to pay attentionto it,” he said. “You just don’t go in a home where people aren’tusing candles these days. But that’s something you really need tobe careful with, and especially don’t leave home with thoseburning.”

And with children home throughout the day for Christmasvacation, it’s good to keep an eye on them around candles, lightsand the stove, Watts said. Cooking while distracted by guests,household chores or even holiday football games can pose a risk aswell.

“If you’re going to cook, you need to be where you can stay withit,” he said. “Don’t be doing something that would have your timetaken up when you’re away from it. If you’re going to cook, youneed to cook and not be doing other things.”

Watts said the cooking warning especially extends to cooking onan open stove top. Ovens aren’t as much of a threat as cooking ontop of the stove with hot oil.

“If you’re cooking with oil you’ve got to be there with it,” hesaid. “If you’re using water, sometimes the worst you’re going todo is burn up pan. But with oil, that’s where you can run intoproblems.”

And the colder weather also brings space heaters, Watts said,which also need to be attended to. It’s important to unplug themwhen leaving home, he said.

“The ones that are more dangerous are the electric ones, becausethey pull a lot of current and you don’t notice them as much,” hesaid. “We’ve had a lot more problems with them than with gasappliances over the last few years, maybe because there’s no flame,so you may be more likely to get it too close to something or putsomething on top of it.”

With all that said, however, Watts said Brookhaven has beenblessed during his years not to have seen much of a rise in firesduring the holiday season. He said while that is true, it is asimportant as ever for homeowners to pay attention to safetyguidelines.

“That’s not saying people shouldn’t continue to be safe at thistime of year,” he said. “I think that’s why it hasn’t been an issueis because people know to be careful. But luckily, it doesn’t seemwe usually have a big rush of Christmas trees and candles settingthings on fire this time of the year.”