As the holiday season arrives again, accompanied inevitably by the snow and cold weather, Fire Chief Vince MacKenzie has a few tips to prevent a fire at your home.

While it makes for a nice atmosphere over the holiday season, MacKenzie says it's always important not to leave a lit candle unattended.

"Candle with care, we say. Make sure you never leave candles unattended, don't put them in your Christmas tree, and make sure that the flame itself is actually protected by a glass globe or something like that."

MacKenzie said it's important to remember lights get hot, and that means they need to breathe. Make sure not to smother them in garland or decorations, and give them a break.

"Lights get hot, and you've also got to remember that lights are designed — there's indoor/outdoor lights, there's indoor lights, and outdoor lights, and they all are labelled, so it's very important that you take a close look at the labels that are on the lights that you have."

​Just like your indoor versus outdoor lights, extension cords have the same rules.

"We use a lot of extension cords when it comes to Christmas time, and we run them through ceilings and attach them to walls and that kind of stuff. It's really not recommended you do that, especially if you're going to run them under rugs and those kinds of things. It's very important that you have the proper extension cords," said MacKenzie.

MacKenzie said some of the most common calls this time of year are related to heating — wood stoves and fireplaces that haven't been inspected in a while.

"The Christmas paper goes in the wood stove, starts a chimney fire. We get calls about fireplaces, again, first time it's been used in three years, Christmas day we're going to light the fireplace, without it being inspected."

This one should be obvious. MacKenzie said the most important safety tip is to make sure your home is equipped with working smoke detectors.

"Always, always make sure you've got working smoke alarms. Very important."