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Show UO.VT LET FIRE TURN XMAS JOY TO SORROW. There was an atmosphere of Christ-n.u.. Christ-n.u.. everywhere in the Sanford home, where pretty decorations of quick-burn quick-burn ing materials had been used profusely. pro-fusely. The gifts had been opened, and heaps of papor and tissue had been left near the tree. Sounds of festivity fes-tivity filled the house, and in childish, glee Little AJice donned a paper costume. cos-tume. Snap! A vicious spark from a short circuit beneath tix tree ignited thin tissue! The flames leaped instantly to Alice's flimsy costume and she ran shrk-king from the room. Then people woke up. Uncle Jake stuck out his foot, neatly tripping the child onto a rug, into which he rolled her, snuffing snuf-fing out the flames as he protected her face and hair. Dad and Uncle Art reappeared with fire extinguishers that made short work of the fire. But the room was a wreck, Alice had some painful burns and the holiday spirit was considerably dampened. NevertheleSvS, heart-felt thanksgivings thanksgiv-ings went up from the Sanfords as they realized what might have hap- p ned to their child and home! They were lucky folks, indeed! Every Christmas brings reports of fires that did not end so fortunately. Four lessons are pointed out by the National Na-tional Board of Fire underwriters from this incident: First is the importance of purchasing purchas-ing standard wire, fuses, plugs, sockets sock-ets and sets of Christmas tree lights that is, those bearing the approval label of the underwriters' laboratories. In add.tion, have all extra wiring done by a licensed electrician, detach appliances ap-pliances when not in use and dont hang wires over nails. Second is the folly of using inflammable inflam-mable decorations for trees and rooms. (Incombustible decorations are now on sale). All paper and tissue wrappings from packages should be disposed of at once. The last two lessons stand to the credit of the Sanfords: They used the correct method of putting out flames in clothing and they kept fire extinguishers ex-tinguishers handy. When clothing catches fire, the person should never run, but always get down on the floor and roll in a rug or blanket, holding it tight abo the neck to protect the face. Fire extinguishers many times will stop a fire before it gets dangerous. dan-gerous. Still other essential precautions are: Instruct children carefully in the use of toys, especially electrical ones. Avoid toys requiring an alcohol or kerosene lamp. Flimsy motion picture machines should be avoided, as children child-ren may borrow or rent inflammable film and attempt to use it. Smoking In rooms decorated for the holidays and where excited children child-ren are playing, smoking is dangerous. danger-ous. Considerate smokers will use another an-other room. Candles Never use lighted candles for decorations. They are especially hazardous on trees, and on window sills where curtains may be blown against them. i Trees Set trees up securely and at ! some distance from lighting and heating heat-ing fixtures. A new type of stand, which holds the butts in water, keeps trees greener. Otherwse, the heat of I a house dries out a tree and soon makes it a real hazard. A good precaution pre-caution is to take down the tree and dispose of it a few days after Christmas. Christ-mas. Santa Claus Don't let old Kris Kringle himself be a fire hazard. Oftentimes Of-tentimes his costume or "whiskers" would bum furiously if accidentally ignited. This would hardly be fair to the old gentleman. Costume and cotton cot-ton beard can be made safer if sprayed spray-ed with a solution of water-glass, which is obtainable at all drug stores. |