A flammability test determines how fast a substance burns. These scientists are observing how a car’s plastic fuel tank holds up during a fire.
© Southwest Research Institute

After the tragic fires in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Bronx in New York City took the lives of 29 people within a week, it is an important time to review fire safety tips. House fires occur more often in winter due to the use of space heaters, fireplaces, candles, cooking, and other heating equipment. While you huddle up to keep warm, check to make sure you are being safe.

Fire pre​​vention is a term for the many safety measures and programs used to keep harmful fires from starting and to reduce injuries to people and damage to property. Many individuals, groups, and communities work to prevent fires and reduce injuries to people. They use three main methods: (1) laws and regulations, (2) inspection of buildings and other property, and (3) public education about fire safety. Each year, fires cause thousands of deaths throughout the world. Most of the deaths and injuries that are caused by fire occur at home. Some simple precautions can help keep your home—and the people in it—safe from fire.

The leading causes of fires in the home are cooking, heating equipment, arson, electrical equipment, and smoking. Since the 1980’s, both the number of home fires and deaths related to them have been in decline. The decrease is the result of such initiatives as fire prevention programs; regulations requiring furniture to be less easily ignited; and the use of smoke alarms and sprinkler systems.

A smoke alarm is a device used in homes and other locations to warn people of smoke or a fire. You can help ensure your family’s safety in case of fire by installing one or more smoke alarms. The alarm makes a loud noise within seconds after smoke enters its vents. Smoke alarms operate on household electricity, battery power, or both. Typical locations include on the ceiling in and just outside sleeping areas, and on each level of a home. Make sure there is a working smoke alarm in your home and consider installing a residential sprinkler system.

See if your family or building has a fire extinguisher. A fire extinguisher is a metal container filled with water or chemicals used to put out fires. Fire extinguishers are portable and easy to operate and can be used to put out small fires before the flames spread.

To prevent cooking-related fires, do not leave food cooking on the stove unattended. A pan of hot cooking oil can quickly become a blazing grease fire. If a grease fire starts, do not try to move a blazing pan. Instead, put a lid on the pan or use a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. Do not pour water on a grease fire because it will cause the fire to spread.

Another way to prevent fire is to keep matches and flammable materials away from children. Never play with fire. Stay away from fires, especially because many types of fabrics burn easily. Do not stand near heaters, candles, lighted stoves, bonfires, or other sources of high heat. If fabrics or similar materials catch fire, use a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze.

Fires can be caused by faulty electric wiring in houses. In old homes, have a qualified electrician regularly check electric wiring and replace any wires that appear weak or worn. Limiting the use of extension cords can also prevent fires from starting. A fire can also result from overloading one outlet with appliances.

Cleaning out cluttered spaces is also a good idea! Clear out rubbish, old clothing, and other unused items from the attic, basement, closets, and other storage areas. A fire could easily start there.

Gasoline and other flammable liquids, such as paint and furniture polish, should be stored in tightly covered containers. Keep such items away from the stove, fireplace, and other sources of heat. Such materials should be stored in a separate storage area, if possible, or at least in the garage.

If you have a fireplace, put a screen in front of it to prevent sparks from flying out. Remind others that cigarettes and other smoking materials must be put out completely, using ashtrays.

As a family, plan an escape route from each room and hold a home fire drill regularly. All exits must be kept clear at all times. It might seem silly when you are practicing, but it can make a big difference if a fire does occur.

If there is a fire, call the fire department after exiting the house or building. This call should be made from outside the house right away. Plan a meeting at home about fire safety and see what you can do to keep your home and family safe this winter.

Vonetta Flowers
Credit: © Everett Collection, Shutterstock

Winter is a time for hockey, ice skating, skiing, sledding, and snowboarding. Have you ever heard of bobsledding? Bobsledding is a fast, dangerous winter sport in which teams of two or four persons ride down a steep, icy course in steel and fiberglass sleds. The sleds may reach speeds up to 90 miles (145 kilometers) per hour. The team with the fastest total time after either two or four runs wins the competition.

One famous bobsledder is Vonetta Flowers. Flowers is a former American Olympic bobsledder. In 2002, she became the first Black American to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympic Games. She tried bobsledding on a whim and took the sport quickly.

Vonetta Jeffrey was born on Oct. 29, 1973, in Birmingham, Alabama. She began running as a child. In high school, she was an all-star track and basketball athlete. Flowers was a seven-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-American in track at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She competed in several events, including the long jump, triple jump, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and relays. She married John Flowers, an American track coach and former track athlete, in 1999.

Vonetta Flowers won a gold medal in the long jump at the 1994 Olympic Festival. The festival was a U.S. national competition held between Olympic Games years. Flowers competed in the long jump at the 2000 Olympic trials but failed to qualify. While at the trials, Flowers’s husband saw a flyer for tryouts as a brakeman for bobsledding. In two-person bobsledding, the team includes a driver and a brakeman. The brakeman helps to push off at the beginning of the run and brakes the sled to a stop at the end of the run. As a trained track athlete, Flowers outperformed many competitors at the bobsled trials.

At the bobsled trials, Flowers met the American bobsledder Bonny Warner. In 2001, Flowers and Warner finished in the top 10 in all 7 World Cup races. However, Warner replaced Flowers with another brakeman. Flowers almost quit the sport before the American bobsledder Jill Bakken recruited her as brakeman.

In 2002, at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, Flowers and Bakken competed against Warner’s team, which was favored to win. Flowers and Bakken broke the course record on their first run and won the first-ever gold medal in women’s bobsled. Flowers retired from competition after the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. She began working as a track coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Flowers’ story inspires many to try a new sport or hobby. What would you like to try this year?

Winter is the coldest season of the year. The Northern Hemisphere, the northern half of Earth, has winter weather from December to early March. Winter storms produce large snowfalls in some areas, shown here. In the Southern Hemisphere, winter weather begins in late June and lasts until early September.
Art Explosion

Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021 is the winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere. On the winter solstice, the sun is at its most southerly position. It marks the day in the year with the least amount of sunlight and the beginning of winter. After the winter solstice, days begin growing longer and nights shorter approaching spring. The winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere happens in June because the seasons are reversed. December 21 in the Southern Hemisphere is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.

During the winter solstice, the sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn. The Tropic of Capricorn is an imaginary line that traces the southern boundary of the earth’s Tropical Zone. It marks the farthest limit south of the equator where the sun can appear directly overhead. The change results from the tilt of Earth’s axis of rotation. The winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere happens on December 21 or 22.

Earth spins around its axis once every 24 hours. This motion creates day and night. Earth also travels around the sun once every 365 days. This motion creates the year. The entire solar system revolves around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

On the winter solstice which occurs in December in the Northern Hemisphere and June in the Southern Hemisphere, people celebrate the rebirth of the sun and the beginning of winter. For a long time, cultures around the world have celebrated holidays and feasted around the winter solstice. Most of the celebrations feature light since it occurs on the darkest day of the year.

Stonehenge may have been a place where people celebrated the winter solstice. Stonehenge is an ancient ruin in southwestern England. It consists of huge, rough-cut stones set in a circle. The stones are aligned toward the winter solstice sunset. There is archeological evidence the people who lived there held a large feast on the winter solstice.

Ancient Roman holidays were planned around the winter solstice. People have also celebrated specific holidays on the winter solstice in China, Iran, Japan, and Scandinavia. The Incas and some Native American tribes celebrated the winter solstice by fasting, dancing, and then feasting.