While Escambia County is under a Tropical Storm Warning, please place Halloween decorations inside your home or business.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, decorations are the first thing to ignite in roughly 800 reported home fires each year. More than one-third of these fires were started by a candle. Escambia County Fire Rescue encourages everyone to take these simple precautions to make trick-or-treating safe for your little monsters.
ECFR offers these fire safety tips to stay safe during Halloween festivities:
- When selecting a costume make sure to stay away from long trailing fabric. If your child is wearing a mask, make sure the holes around the eyes are large enough he or she can see out.
- Provide children with flashlights to carry for lighting or glow sticks as part of their costume.
- Keep all decorations away from open flames and other heat sources like light bulbs and heaters.
- Use a battery-operated candle or glow-stick in Jack-o-lanterns. If you’ve decided to use a real candle use extreme caution and watch children at all times.
- Remember to keep exits clear of decoration so nothing blocks escape routes.
- Make sure all smoke alarms in the home are working.
- Tell children to stay away from open flames and be sure they know to stop, drop, and roll if their clothing catches fire.
Traditional Halloween activities are fun, but some can increase the risk of getting or spreading COVID-19 or influenza. Here are some ways to plan alternate ways to participate in Halloween:
Make trick-or-treating safer
- Avoid direct contact with trick-or-treaters.
- Give out treats outdoors, if possible.
- Set up a station with individually bagged treats for kids to take.
- Wash hands before handling treats.
- Wear a mask.
Wear a mask
- Make your cloth mask part of your costume.
- A costume mask is not a substitute for a cloth mask.
- Do NOT wear a costume mask over a cloth mask. It can make breathing more difficult.
- Masks should NOT be worn by children under the age of 2 or anyone who has trouble breathing
Stay at least 6 feet away from others who do not live with you
- Indoors and outdoors, you are more likely to get or spread COVID-19 when you are in close contact with others for a long time.
Wash your hands
- Bring hand sanitizer with you and use it after touching objects or other people.
- Use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
- Parents: supervise young children using hand sanitizer.
- Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds when you get home and before you eat any treats.
Decorate and carve pumpkins
- Decorate your home for Halloween.
- Carve pumpkins with members of your household or outside with neighbors or friends.
- Walk from house to house, admiring Halloween decorations at a distance.
Visit an orchard, forest or corn maze. Attend a scavenger hunt.
- Go on an outdoor Halloween-themed scavenger hunt.
- Visit a pumpkin patch or orchard. Remember to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer frequently, especially after touching frequently touched surfaces, pumpkins, or apples.
- Go to a one-way, walk-through haunted forest or corn maze.
Other Ideas
- Hide Halloween treats in and around your house. Hold a Halloween treat hunt with household members.
- Hold an outdoor costume parade or contest so everyone can show off their costumes.
- Host an outdoor Halloween movie night with friends or neighbors or an indoor movie night with your household members.
It's that time of year again. Change your clock, change your batteries.
- Changing and testing the batteries in your smoke alarms when setting your clocks back an hour for daylight savings time 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1 can help save lives.
- The National Fire Protection Association reports that 71 percent of smoke alarms that failed to operate had missing, disconnected or dead batteries.
- Smoke alarms are a key part of your home fire escape plan. When there is a fire, smoke spreads fast. Working smoke alarms give you early warning so you can get outside quickly. Smoke alarms save lives.
- For information about obtaining a home smoke detector, call 850-595-HERO (4376). City of Pensacola residents may call 850-436-5200 for smoke detector installation assistance.
Escambia County Fire Rescue encourages you and your family to have a fun and safe Halloween. For more information, check out NFPA’s website on ways to reduce risks associated with Halloween here. The CDC website also offers tips about holidays during COVID-19.
