Fire Prevention Week 2026: Safe Charging, and the Hearth

This year's theme

Fire Prevention Week, sponsored by the NFPA, ran from October 4 to 10, 2026. The theme, Charge into Fire Safety: Safe Charging Is a Superpower, is the second year in a row centered on lithium-ion batteries, the kind found in phones, laptops, power tools, e-bikes and scooters. State fire marshals echoed the core advice: use the cord and charger that came with the device or one the maker approves, charge on a hard, flat surface rather than a bed or couch, unplug once fully charged, and stop using any battery that gets very hot, swells, smokes or smells odd. Large items such as e-bikes and scooters should be charged away from exits.

Fire departments across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware used the week for school visits, open houses and alarm checks, as they do each October. The battery message is timely in this region, where e-bikes and scooters are common in dense neighborhoods and often charged indoors in apartments, hallways and basements.

Where batteries meet heating season

In October, the hearth and the area around a wood stove become warm places again. They are also convenient flat spots near an outlet, and in some homes the mantel doubles as a charging shelf. Heat speeds the breakdown of lithium-ion cells, and a battery sitting near a fire or a stove's radiant side runs hotter than it should. A charging phone or tool battery left on the hearth also shares space with sparks and embers.

The same goes for e-bikes and scooters parked in a basement next to the boiler or near a wood stove for the winter. Keep them, and their chargers, well away from any heat source and out of the path to the door.

The rest of the October checklist

Fire Prevention Week also lands right before the busiest months for heating fires. Heating equipment needs clear space around it; a common rule is three feet from anything that can burn, including firewood stacks, furniture and stored items. Ashes from the fireplace should go into a metal can with a lid, set outside away from the house, because coals can stay hot for days.

Smoke alarms on every level and outside sleeping areas, plus CO alarms where there is any fuel-burning appliance, are the backstop. Test them during the same week each year so it becomes a habit.

Firewood brought inside should be a small supply for the day, kept back from the opening and the stove. Kindling, newspaper and matches belong in a closed container away from the hearth. Glass doors and a sturdy screen keep sparks in, and a fire should be fully out, or the stove closed down and attended, before everyone goes to bed or leaves the house.

The chimney's part

For homes with a fireplace, stove or boiler venting into a chimney, NFPA 211 calls for an inspection at least once a year and cleaning when deposits build up. October is a practical time for both: the flue is cool, the weather still allows repairs to masonry, and any problem found can be fixed before the coldest weeks.