To keep your holiday celebrations merry and bright, follow these safety tips from San Patricio Electric Cooperative.

Holiday Lighting

• Inspect your Christmas lights. Lights that aren’t in good shape can cause electric shock, or even a fire. Before you plug in a single strand of Christmas lights, make sure they aren’t damaged. Inspect them for cracked or frayed cords, loose connections, damaged sockets and loose or bared wired. Replace any broken bulbs and throw away strands of lights that are in poor condition.
• Less is best. If you have too many strands of lights strung together, you could be creating a hazard. Any more than three strands of incandescent lights could trip a circuit breaker or start a fire. If you’re using LED Christmas lights, you can get away with more strands. Due to their low energy use, you can string up to 25 strands of LED lights together without overloading a wall socket, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
• Use several outlets. Your outlets are made to handle a certain amount of wattage. If you push the socket beyond its limits, it can cause a fire. Make sure you spread your lights across multiple outlets to ease the load and stay safe.
• Turn off the lights. Don’t leave your Christmas lights on if you’re not around to enjoy them. Turn off the lights, inside and out, when you go to bed or leave your home. Keeping them on could be a fire hazard and will only add to your electric bill.
• Use the right extension cord. For outdoor decorations, make sure you use an extension cord that is rated for outdoor use. Also, only use extension cords that have been tested for safety and given a certification from a national independent testing laboratory, such as UL.

Tree

• Buy a fresh tree. If you purchase a live Christmas tree, choose one that’s fresh. It should have branches that bend instead of break and needles that don’t fall easily. Make sure you water it frequently—a dry tree is a fire hazard.
• Or a safe artificial tree. If you purchase an artificial Christmas tree, make sure it’s labeled fire resistant.
• Keep a safe distance. Make sure your tree is Christmas tree is positioned at least three feet away from your electric outlets, fireplace and space heater.

Outdoor Decorations

• Look up before you decorate. When you’re decorating outdoors, it’s important to be aware of your surrounds—especially for what may be located above you. Keep ladders, equipment, decorations and yourself at least 10 feet away from power lines.
• Stay away from electric poles. Never attach decorations (or anything) to our electric poles. It can become a safety hazard for you and our linemen.