I received this info. from the insurance company, and thought I would pass it along!

In an average year candles cause 8690 fires, 104 deaths, 947 injuries, and property damage of $126 million. Half of these fires started in the bedroom, and 19 percent in living rooms, family roomsor dens.

Please be careful with your candles!! Last year at Thanksgiving, I made this great looking centerpiece. I took a big tray and filled it with about 12 candles of varying sizes and fall colors. Around it I put small gourds, dried flowers, leaves etc... I lit them all and didn't really pay attention to it.

Well after about 3-4 hours, the whole thing went up in flames!! One of the candles had burned down enough to catch some dried flowers on fire. Since it was sitting on my slate topped table, nothing happened, and Cale just carried it outside. But believe me I am still teased a lot about it. However if it had been sitting elsewhere it could have been worse.

Some of the rules they list are to use candles only with adult supervision, extinguish them before leaving the room, and keep away from anything flammable.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), November 21, 2001

Answers

A very good friend of mine had a fire last month when she and her children made a jack-o-lantern display. It burned their deck down.

-- Jo (mamamia2kids@msn.com), November 21, 2001.

I only burn candles I can put in a mason jar. The jar has to be taller than the candle and the jar is made for the heat and dose not tip over easy. So you can decorate all around it and it just looks like a cabin craft and I like cabin crafts. I have had two family members lose everything in house fires. Thank goodness we did not lose any family member!

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), November 21, 2001.

I'll second Melissa's reminder. When I was 15, I had a migraine, lit a candle in my room, and stretched out on my bed. Door was closed, and locked (pesky little brother). Well... I fell asleep. About 6 hours later (2am) I awoke by hitting my head on the wall while coughing. Thought it looked pretty foggy outside. Lucky me, I woke enough to remember the candle. I guess the forced air furnace caused a vacuum in my room, and it just smoldered, but the smoke couldn't escape under the door because of the carpeting. The smoke alarm was about a foot from my door, but not a peep until I opened it. For hours I was breathing toxic fumes from a plastic case, synthetic clothes, my school binder, and my grt-grt grandmother's antique buffet. As soon as I opened up that door...POOF!! A doctor told me to consider my lungs those of someone who had smoked about 50 years. If you're a parent, I'd advise not to completely close your children's bedroom doors at night. Just to be on the safe side...

-- Rheba (rhebabeall@hotmail.com), November 21, 2001.