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| LIFE IN SOLERA | DECEMBER 2024 | 7 Solera CERT Cadre With the holiday season upon us, the CERT team wishes to remind everyone of a few simple holiday safety tips. Electrical Lighting. Check the condition of your outside and inside holiday lighting. Some lights are only for indoor or outdoor use, but not both. Replace any string of lights that have worn or broken cords, or loose bulb connections. Use clips, not nails to hang lights so that the cords do not get damaged. Turn off all decorations (including battery operated lights) before leaving your house or going to bed. Be careful hanging outside holiday lighting. If you feel unsafe on a ladder, please call a holiday lighting installation person to help you decorate the exterior and interior of your home. Candles. Candles are the cause of almost half of all holiday fires. Keep children and pets away from lit candles. Instead of using candles to set the holiday mood, consider using battery operated candles. These are a much safer alternative. If you do use candles in your home, keep them away from f lammable items such as draperies, Christmas trees, presents, and other f lammable items. Always extinguish all candles before leaving your house and before turning in for the night. More than one third of decoration fires are started by candles. Christmas Trees. We all love a decorated Christmas tree, but use caution. If you choose a fresh cut Christmas tree, keep it well watered. Check the water level daily. It should be full every day. Keep your Christmas tree away from a heat source such as a space heater or furnace. Choose f lame resistant or f lame-retardant decorations. Never, ever have lit candles in the vicinity of a fresh Christmas tree. After the holiday season is over, or if the tree is dried out, remove it from your house and place it outside. Follow the directions from your local waste management company for proper disposal of the tree. Holiday Parties and Gatherings. One of the joys of the holiday season is entertaining guests with food and drink. Keep hot foods hot. The USDA recommends that hot foods should be at 140 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. Cold foods should be 40 degrees Fahrenheit or colder. Say "no" to foods that have been sitting out at room temperature for more than two hours. When it comes to alcohol consumption, please drink responsibly. Consider using a taxi cab, an Uber/Lyft service or have a friend drive you home if you drink. Remember "buzzed" driving is drunk driving. Please arrive at your holiday gathering safely and return home safely. On Sat., Jan. 4, 2025, starting at 10AM in OM1-2, the Solera CERT team will be hosting a two-part class titled "How to Make an Evacuation Plan/Shelter in Place." The class will be power-point based. There will be at least two guest speakers from within the Solera community speaking about their own disaster evacuation experience. The class will last about an hour and a half. There will be plenty of handouts and several disaster preparedness items on display. Every resident in attendance will receive a free gift. Refreshments will be available. There will be seating for up to 60 people. Please RSVP me (Ron Monroe) at (909) 732-6139 as soon as possible. I will be keeping a list this time. You can always show up at the door to attend if seating is available. Please plan to join us for a very informative program. Lastly, the Solera Emergency Communications/ CERT team wishes everyone a joyous holiday season. Please be safe during the holiday season. ~ Ron Monroe, Solera CERT Cadre, (909) 732-6139, ronoap@aol.com, www.solera-cert.info Holiday Safety Tips