skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Warning: Space Heaters Can Be Deadly

play audio
Play

Monday, October 5, 2015   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – This week children across Missouri will go through drills and create home safety plans as part of Fire Prevention Week, and as winter approaches, fire officials say there is an often-overlooked item in the home that can lead to disaster.

Supplemental heating devices, or space heaters, account for 80 percent of the deaths related to home heating fires.

Last February, seven Missourians died within five days.

Greg Carrell, acting state fire marshal, says it's important to keep flammables a safe distance from the heaters.

"Curtains, tablecloths, couches, chairs, you know, anything that can burn, you should keep the space heater back away from that,” he urges. “We talk about at least three feet of distance, we talk about kid-free and pet-free zones. They could easily knock these over."

He also says it's important to turn off all space heaters before bed.

This year's theme for Fire Prevention Week is Hear the Beep Where You Sleep, emphasizing the need for working alarms in every bedroom.

"Make sure that we're using these properly, make sure that they're clean, make sure they're serviced,” he stresses. “But have a good, working carbon monoxide alarm in your house, too. It is odorless, it's colorless, and you don't know it's there until you begin to feel sick."

Any heating device that burns a fuel produces carbon monoxide.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021