Firefighters offer the following tips for a safe Halloween:

• When choosing a costume, stay away from long, trailing fabric. If you are making your own costume, choose material that won't easily ignite.

• Provide children with flashlights to carry for lighting or glow sticks as part of their costume.

• Dried flowers, corn stalks and crepe paper are highly flammable. Keep these and other decorations away from open flames and heat sources.

• It is safest to use a flashlight or battery-operated candles in a Jack-o-lantern. Be sure to place lit pumpkins well away from anything that can burn and far enough out of the way of trick-or-treaters, doorsteps, walkways and yards.

• Children should always go trick-or-treating with a responsible adult. Remind children to stay together as a group and walk from house to house.

• Make a rule that children will not eat any treat until it has been brought home and examined by a grown-up.