Food Safety During and After a Power Outage

Cleaning out the refrigerator and checking your freezer for the safety of its contents don't often at rise to the top of your to-do list, but an extended power outage is a good time for these tasks.

These food safety tips can help:

• Keep appliance thermometers in the refrigerator and freezer at all times. Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs need to be refrigerated at or below 40 degrees F. Frozen foods need to be stored at or below 0 degrees F. Digital, dial, or instant-read food thermometers and appliance thermometers will help you know if the food is at safe temperatures.


• If you don't have an appliance thermometer, you can insert an instant-read food thermometer into the food and check its temperature.


• Keeping an appliance thermometer in the freezer will help you evaluate the safety of frozen foods. When the power comes back on, check the thermometer. If the temperature reads 40 degrees F or below, the food is safe and may be refrozen.


• If you don't have a thermometer in the freezer, check each package of food individually. Food is safe to refreeze if it still contains ice crystals. Partial thawing and refreezing may reduce the quality of some food, but the food will remain safe to eat.
  
• Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature. The refrigerator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened. A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.
  

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Assessing and Cleaning Up Storm-Damaged Trees: Stay Safe!

On Thursday, December 11, Mother Nature covered much of the state in a glaze of ice that felled trees and ripped out power lines, cutting off power to more than half a million households and causing Gov. John Lynch to declare a state of emergency.

Four days later, tens of thousands of families are still without power, and many have moved into the 60 emergency shelters set up across the state. Once people have returned home, many will find themselves dealing with downed or ice-damaged trees. A few tips:

Don't panic, be safe and seek professional help: Removing large trees or limbs is dangerous. Don't climb a ladder with a chainsaw. Don’t climb into a damaged tree. Never touch any tree near electrical wires. Assess your particular tree situation carefully and watch for safety hazards.

Most tree work needs to be done by professional arborists, especially if the work requires climbing or when the tree is leaning against another tree or structure.

Assess immediate hazards first: Remove dead trees; trees or branches that are leaning; trees with broken or cracked stems;trees with extensive broken roots; and any large, dead, or broken limbs that are still attached to the tree.

Hire an arborist: Hiring a qualified arborist will get the work done properly and safely. Trained arborists are aware of proper pruning and removal procedures and can reduce the chance of further damage to the tree. Check to see that they are certified and ask for certificates of insurance, including proof of liability for personal and property damage and worker’s compensation. Also, request local references and get more than one estimate.

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Save Energy this Winter: Prepare Now!

Start with your heating system

The typical New Hampshire household will spend around $3000 to heat their home this winter.

There are a lot of things you and your family can do right now to reduce those heating bills as much as 20 percent or more with simple actions that don't cost too much.

Lower your thermostat

Every degree you lower the thermostat reduces your fuel costs by about two percent. Keeping your home at 68 degrees in the winter, rather than 73 degrees will typically save about 10 percent in fuel bills.

Lowering the temperature even further when the house is empty or when everyone is sleeping will also reduce your heating bill. If you keep forgetting to lower the temperature manually, a programmable thermostat can help. ("Set it and forget it.") These cost about $50 but will pay for themselves in the first heating season.

There's a common misconception that it takes more energy to raise the temperature of a previously unoccupied home to a comfortable range than it does to maintain that temperature consistently regardless of whether the home is occupied or not. This simply isn't true. If no one is going to be home, turn the heat down; you'll save.

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