Safely heating your home

We’ve already seen cold weather, and you just know that more is on the way.

That means that you’ll be cranking up the heat.

Space heaters, furnaces and fireplaces are all popular ways to heat your house, but they can be dangerous if you don’t take some proper precautions.

You’re probably familiar with that burning smell after you first turn on your system.

You can take of that by having the coils in the system cleaned, but there is an odorless, colorless gas that can be a problem as well.

“If you don’t have a well-operating furnace it’s not going to be efficient in the burning process and it’s heating process which could end up causing carbon-monoxide problems,” said Capt. Steven Oswald of the Colorado Springs Fire Department.

Each year there are more than 50,000 heating-system fires in the United States. It’s the second leading cause of fires after cooking fires.