CANDLES are lovely around the home, but they are also potentially dangerous and more of us need to acknowledge this.

More than a quarter of all households regularly buy scented candles. But the number of people killed in fires caused by candles has also trebled in the last two years.

Over the holiday, at least one person suffered burns in a house fire in Worthing caused by candles which set a Christmas tree alight.

We wouldn’t use a naked flame in other circumstances at home, yet we feel a false sense of security around scented candles that needs to change.