Safe candle burning

Romantic dinners, holiday decorations and powercuts all demand the use of candles. But candles can still be dangerous, and are sometimes disregarded as fire hazards. The US National Candle Association offers these tips for safe candle use:

Take Action:

• Don't burn candles on or near anything that can catch fire
• Extinguish all candles before leaving a room, or before going to sleep
• Trim candlewicks to 1 cm each time before you light them
• keep burning candles away from Open windows, vents or air currents
• Don't extinguish candles with water - water can cause the hot wax to spatter and glass containers to break
• Place candles at least 8 cm apart from one another

Image: Wikimedia, J. Samuel Burner