The best of the strike-anywhere matches are given a special treatment to keep the head from flying off when struck, and also to guard it from being set on fire accidentally. Great care is also taken in the preparation of the wood to safeguard against breaking. But as a class, the safety matches are less dangerous.
Matches of all kinds are carefully tested in the great Underwriters' Laboratories, which The National Board of Fire Underwriters maintains in Chicago, and those that are able to pass the test are labeled by the Laboratories. It is always a protection to find one of these labels on a box. The Laboratories have no interest in the sale of matches, and any manufacturer who will make goods of the right grade can secure the label.
Let us suppose that your house is provided with good matches, those having solid heads and tough sticks. There will be no danger if you are always careful when using them. But are you? Here are some questions for you to answer.
Do you ever throw away a match which is burning or even glowing? Never do this again. It has caused hundreds of deaths and has burned thousands of homes.
How do you strike a match—away from you or toward you? Probably you have never thought about this, but think of it hereafter, and form the habit of always striking away from you. Thus, if the match breaks or its head flies off, it will not be likely to set fire to your clothing. In lighting matches upon a box, first close the box; otherwise the flame may set fire to the whole box. If the box is set in a box-holder, such as those used by smokers, wherein the upper part of the box is open, place the box so that the heads are not exposed. In striking a match upon such a holder, always strike downward away from the open end.
If matches are spilled, do you stop at once and pick up every one? If you leave them strewn about for even a little while, you may forget them until after mischief has been done. A match on the floor is always a dangerous thing. It may be stepped on and ignited, or it may be found by a little child, or it may be carried into the wall or under the floor by a rat or mouse. It is not probable that mice often start fires by gnawing match-heads, but they do like to use them in building nests in warm, comfortable places, close to chimneys or furnace pipes. Dangerous fires may come from this cause or from matches rubbed against beams while being carried to the nest.
Where do you keep your matches? Are they out of reach of little children, as they always should be? Are they kept away from the stove, or the stovepipe, or any other place where they may become overheated? Are they loose in a drawer or on a shelf, or are they in a covered box or dish of metal or earthenware? Sometimes uncovered matches are ignited by the sun's rays shining through a lens-forming bubble in a window-pane.
Do you carry matches on your person? A child should never be allowed to do this. He may be careful, but some careless child may ask him for a match. Always be on the safe side. A grown person should never permit himself to carry loose matches in his pocket. The State Fire Marshal of Iowa says:
Some men, especially smokers, are in the habit of carrying matches around with them. It is the easiest thing in the world for matches carried around loose in a man's pocket to drop out. Suppose the man has work to do about a barn. A match drops out on the barn floor and a horse steps on it. It is a parlor-match and ignites, setting fire to hay and other inflammable material found in barns. Then the barn burns and the cause of fire is reported something like this:
"Unknown. Nobody had been in the barn for some time. Everything safe when the barn was closed up."
Six hundred and ninety-four barn fires took place in Iowa in 1914. Hundreds of these were reported as of unknown origin, but it is safe to say that in a great number of cases, if the cause could have been traced, it would have been found to be a match that had dropped out of a smoker's pocket.