Heating Your Home Safely in a Power Outage

Anyone who lived through the Texas freeze of February 2021 remembers how fast a house gets cold with no power. If you have a fireplace or wood stove, it can keep one room warm for days. If you do not, there are still safe options. Here is the plan, and the mistakes that send people to the hospital every winter.

Before the storm

  • Have at least a few days of dry firewood under cover and a Box of 5 One Strike starters next to the fireplace. Cold, wet, no-power nights are exactly when you do not want to be fighting with newspaper.
  • Test your carbon monoxide detector and put in fresh batteries. If you do not have one, buy one. This is the single most important item on the list.
  • Have the chimney inspected if it has been more than a year.
  • Keep a flashlight, matches or a lighter, and a fire extinguisher where you can find them in the dark.

Using a fireplace or wood stove for heat

  1. Pick one room with the fireplace or stove and close the doors to the rest of the house. Hang blankets over doorways if there are no doors.
  2. Open the damper fully and warm the flue with a rolled sheet of newspaper so smoke does not come back into the room.
  3. Build a top-down fire: large splits on the bottom, kindling on top, one One Strike starter on the very top. Light it and let it burn down. Less smoke, less tending.
  4. Keep the fire moderate and steady. A huge fire pulls more warm air up the chimney than it gives back.
  5. Never close the damper or stove air intake all the way while anything is still burning or glowing. That is how carbon monoxide builds up.
  6. Let the fire burn down fully before everyone sleeps, or have one adult stay up to tend it.

Never do these

  • Never run a generator, gas grill, charcoal grill, camp stove or propane heater indoors, in a garage, or near an open window. Carbon monoxide from these kills people every winter storm.
  • Never burn treated lumber, painted wood, furniture, cardboard, plastic or trash in a fireplace. The fumes are toxic.
  • Never use a gas oven to heat the house.
  • Never leave candles burning unattended, especially in a house with kids and blankets everywhere.

If you do not have a fireplace

  • An outdoor fire pit or grill is for cooking and warming up outside only. Bring the warmth in by bringing yourself in, not the fire.
  • Indoor-rated propane heaters (labeled for indoor use, with an oxygen depletion sensor) are the only fuel heaters that belong inside, and still only with a window cracked and a CO detector running.
  • Layer up, close off one room, and share body heat. It sounds basic, but it works.

After the power comes back

Restock the firewood and the starters, replace the CO detector batteries you used, and note anything that would have made it easier. Most of us only think about this once a year, so write it down.

Fire safety basics

  • Never use lighter fluid, gasoline or any accelerant with a fire starter. You do not need it.
  • Keep a bucket of water, a hose or a Class A extinguisher within reach.
  • Never leave a fire unattended, and never let children light a fire starter.
  • Check local burn bans and campground rules before lighting anything outdoors.
  • Burn only in a well-ventilated space. Indoor fireplaces and wood stoves need an open damper and a clean chimney.
  • Let ashes cool completely (24 hours is a good rule) before disposing of them in a metal container.

Shop the Box of 5 ($10) or try a single starter ($2). Family-owned and made in Edinburg, Texas. More guides on our Blog page.

California Proposition 65 Warning

⚠ WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including wood dust and soot, which are known to the State of California to cause cancer, and carbon monoxide, which is known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

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