Salt Lake City, UT
Select Your Location
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, UT. Set as my Location
Phoenix Phoenix, AZ. Set as my Location
Skip to content

Halloween Shouldn’t Include A House Fire

Halloween is great for spooky decorations, with some people setting up spectacular displays. But there are some things that are important to think about to keep your home safe from fires for the night. In this article, we talk about those safety steps so your family can enjoy your decorations this year.

Things To Avoid

Overloading Circuits: When it comes to Halloween decorations sometimes less is more. It’s easy to overload a circuit and you want to make sure you aren’t plugging too many items at once. If you’re pulling too much power, the breaker for that outlet should trip. Many fires start from small extension cords with too many things plugged into them.

Putting Light Plugs In Rain Gutters: It’s not a smart idea to put the plugs in the gutters. Even if you want to hide them when plugging in your Halloween lights outside along a roof. Our electricians see this happen too often and have even had to chip some out of ice. That kind of water contact can cause serious problems if anything shorts out.

ELECTRICAL: Christmas Lights

Click this link to watch our In The House podcast talking all about Christmas lights.

Things To Do

Check Your Extension Cords: Some people put them up year after year after year. Especially for outdoor lights sun and cold outside can be very damaging to the cords. Inspect the strands of lights before you put any Halloween lights up for damage or exposed wires, especially outside ones. If you can bend the wires and they’re brittle and crack, don’t use them. If they’re not in good shape, it’s not worth using them on or in your house.

Use Working GFCI Outlets: GFCI (or Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) protection is especially important when considering exterior Halloween lights. Because the lights and electrical cords are exposed to the elements, they have a higher chance of weather damage. GFCI outlets shut the circuit down if they sense the power isn’t going where it should because they assume it’s going through you. That can prevent fires and helps to keep your family safe.

How to Troubleshoot and Replace an Outdoor GFCI Outlet

Click this link for a video showing you how to troubleshoot if your GFCI is just tripped or if it needs to be replaced.

We hope you enjoy your Halloween decorations this year. If you have any problems, Any Hour Services would be happy to help. One of our electricians can answer any questions you may have and help your family be safe. You can give us a call or schedule an appointment online.

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST

Join our email list to get access to weekly emails with helpful videos, educational articles, and DIY home maintenance guides.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Notice

At Any Hour Services , we are committed to ensuring that individuals with disabilities enjoy full access to our websites. In recognition of this commitment, we are in the process of making modifications to increase the accessibility and usability of this website, using the relevant portions of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) as our standard. Please be aware that our efforts are ongoing. If at any time you have difficulty using this website or with a particular web page or function on this site, please contact us by phone at (385) 469-0209; or email us at ([email protected]) and place “Web Content Accessibility (ADA)” in the subject heading and we will make all reasonable efforts to assist you.

Schedule Now

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.