TULSA, Okla. — The week of October 5 is National Fire Prevention Week. It's a chance for local departments to keep the community aware of potential fire risks.
"They can catch fire with you not being around, and people aren't always thinking about that being a fire risk being plugged into the wall charging," said Andy Little with Tulsa Fire.
Little told 2 News about this year's focus on fires caused by lithium batteries, something that's increased recently.
"We all have phones, tablets, the kids have devices," Little said. "There are simply more of these in homes, and then you have people using the chargers that don't come with the devices, and it just creates more opportunity for fire."
Little says you can prevent those battery fires by using manufacturer issued chargers, not plugging them into extension cords and not setting whatever you're charging on pillows, beds or other things that could catch on fire.
And Fire Prevention Week is actually pretty timely after a house fire just north and west of downtown Tulsa.
Watch: Child critically injured, woman hospitalized after Tulsa house fire
TFD says the cause of that fire is still unknown, but Little did have an update on the 8-year-old girl that initially didn't have a pulse before crews performed life saving measures.
"We have been updated that the young girl was stabilized and transported to Houston to Shriners Hospital for further burn treatment," Little said. "So, it's a super great rescue."
As for the department's final piece of advice?
"It's so important, especially during fire prevention week, that you get a working smoke alarm," Little said. And if you don't have one, please call us and we'll install one for free."
If you'd like to donate to the family affected by that house fire, you can find a GoFundMe link here.
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