With the first touch of winter weather upon Kershaw County, local firefighting officials are cautioning everyone to use a few safety tips to keep their homes and businesses safe when using fireplaces, furnaces and space heaters. Lugoff Fire-Rescue (LF-R) Chief Dennis Ray said fire kills 3,500 Americans each year and injures 18,300 and statistics show people in rural areas are twice as likely to die in a fire than those in mid-sized cities or suburbs. He said wood stoves, portable heaters and kerosene heaters add to that risk.