My aunt lost a bedroom to a space heater fire. Not her house, thank God, but a whole room and everything in it. The heater tipped over onto a pile of clothes, and by the time anyone noticed, the room was gone. She is fine, and now she is the most careful space heater owner I know.

Space heaters cause thousands of house fires every winter, and almost all of them are preventable. Here are the rules that matter.

The Three-Foot Rule Is Real

Keep everything at least three feet away from the heater. Curtains, blankets, clothes, paper, furniture. I know it sounds obvious, but most space heater fires start because something was just too close.

Check the cord too. If it is frayed, warm to the touch, or the plug is loose, do not use the heater until it is fixed or replaced.

Never Leave It Unattended

This is the rule my aunt broke without realizing it. Turn the heater off when you leave the room or go to sleep. If you need heat while sleeping, use a heater with a tip-over shutoff and an overheat sensor, and keep it on a hard, level floor, never on a bed or a rug.

I plug mine directly into the wall, never into an extension cord or power strip. Extension cords overheat and are a leading cause of heater fires.

Pick the Right Kind

Not all heaters are equal. Oil-filled radiators stay cool to the touch and are much safer around pets and kids. Radiant heaters get dangerously hot on the surface.

If you have pets, also look for a heater that shuts off when it tips. My dog has knocked mine over twice, and both times the safety switch did its job.