Have your furnace and wall heaters checked by a professional for safety.

Check all space heaters and keep them away from walls, curtains, and furniture.

If you have a gas heater or any gas appliances, invest in a carbon monoxide detector. (Carbon monoxide kills about 300 people in the U.S. every year.)

Replace the batteries in all of your smoke detectors and test the smoke alarms to make sure they work.

Check the batteries in your NOAA Weather Radio.

When using heat from a fireplace, wood stove, space heater or other apparatus, use fire safeguards and ventilate properly.

Close off unused rooms.

Stuff towels or rags in cracks under doors.

Cover windows at night.

Cover exposed plumbing fixtures and pipes or leave dripping when temperatures drop below freezing.

Prepare a survival kit with supplies needed to survive for a minimum of three days, including bottled water, nonperishable foods for family and pets, sleeping bags or bedding, extra clothes, medicine, flashlights, a battery-powered NOAA Weather Radio, extra batteries, a first aid kit, and a manual can opener.