Small habits, steady warmth

There is little to beat the sight of a well-behaved fire settling into itself on a cold evening. The pleasure of a wood burner or an open fireplace, though, rests on a handful of unglamorous habits repeated without fuss. None of them takes more than a minute, and each one reduces the chance of a scorch mark, a burn or something far more serious. Think of them less as rules and more as the price of a warm front room — a short routine that keeps the whole thing safe. Most hearth accidents are not caused by faulty appliances or bad luck, but by a moment's inattention.

Give every fire a guard

A fireguard is the single most useful piece of equipment you can own, and it earns its place whether you have toddlers, a curious dog or simply a rug that sits a little closer than it should. For an open fire, choose a guard that either fixes to the wall or is heavy enough that it cannot be tipped over by a leaning child or a wagging tail. The mesh should be fine enough to catch sparks, and close enough to the floor that nothing can be pushed underneath it.

A glass-fronted stove still benefits from a guard. The glass and the cast iron around it can reach surface temperatures well above 200°C, hot enough to leave a serious burn in a fraction of a second. A freestanding guard keeps small hands and noses at a distance while the fire is burning — and for a good hour after the flames have died, since the metal holds its heat long after the glow fades.

• Keep the guard in place whenever there is any fire at all, including a smouldering one.
• Position it so you can still reach the door handle and the air controls without moving it.
• Check the fixings once a month; screws work loose over a season of use.

Keep the hearth clear

The hearth is a working area, not a shelf. Building regulations generally expect a non-combustible hearth of at least 300 mm in front of a stove and 150 mm to either side — roughly a good stride from the fire's edge in every direction that matters. Treat that line as a boundary that nothing crosses while the fire is lit.

• Keep furniture at least a metre back from an open fire, and do not let an armchair creep forward over the winter.
• Store logs and kindling well away — a metre from the stove, not stacked against its sides.
• Never dry washing on a rail in front of a fire or draped over a stove. It is one of the most common causes of a flash fire in the home.
• Tie curtains back, and keep Christmas cards, paper decorations and dried flowers off the mantelpiece and stove top.
• Use a spark-proof mat or a wool rug rather than a synthetic one, which melts and burns fiercely if a hot ember lands on it.

Never leave a fire unattended

A fire that is burning deserves a person in the room. That means no popping out to the shop, no long phone call upstairs, and no falling asleep in the chair with an open fire on the go — the classic scenario for a chimney fire or a scorched hearth. If you must leave the room, let the fire burn down first, or make sure the stove door is firmly shut and the air vents are closed down.

Resist the temptation to leave the stove door ajar to "draw" the fire along. It throws out far more heat than the flue needs, and it puts sparks and embers into the room. Before bed, let the last fire burn low rather than banking it up with fresh logs, then close the door and the vents. Do a final walk-round: guard in place, nothing resting against the stove, no candles or tea lights left burning nearby.

Ash and embers: the quiet risk

Ash pans are deceptive. The grey dust on top can hide live embers that stay hot for a day or more, and a bin bag on the kitchen floor is not the place for them. Empty ash into a metal container with a lid, take it outside straight away and stand it on stone or concrete — away from the house wall, the shed, the bin store and any fencing. Leave it for at least 48 hours before you tip the contents into a wheelie bin.

Never use petrol, paraffin or lighter fluid to revive a sluggish fire, and keep firelighters, matches and lighters out of reach of children. Do not burn treated timber, painted offcuts, plastics or household rubbish; they produce corrosive deposits in the flue and unpleasant fumes in the room.

Chimneys, alarms and ventilation

Everything above depends on a flue that does its job properly. Have your chimney swept at least once a year if you burn smokeless fuel, and twice a year if you burn wood — more often if the stove is your main source of heat. Burn dry, seasoned wood with a moisture content below 20 per cent; a cheap moisture meter takes the guesswork out of it, and wet wood is the main cause of tar build-up and chimney fires.

Fit an audible carbon monoxide alarm in the same room as the fire, test it weekly and replace the batteries at least once a year. Make sure the room has adequate ventilation and never block air bricks or vents to keep the draught out; a solid fuel appliance needs a steady supply of air to burn safely. If you ever suspect a chimney fire, close the air vents, get everyone out and call the fire service.

None of this is complicated, and after a few weeks it becomes second nature — the guard slid across, the logs moved back, the ash tin carried out. Do those small things well and the fire stays exactly where it belongs: in the hearth, doing what it does best.