Jan. 12—Johnson County residents should prepare for freezing temperatures from Sunday night through Tuesday, local emergency officials said.

“Two of those days will probably be below freezing during the day,” said Jamie Moore, Johnson County Emergency Management coordinator and fire marshal. “Of course it will be well below freezing during the nights.”

Moore said he’s not overly concerned about the potential of snow and ice, since the chance for that is less than 20 percent.

“I’m just not feeling like we’re going to have a lot of impacts with moisture,” he said Thursday. “We’re just going to have to play it by ear another day or two. It’s just too far out.”

Probably not, but maybe, it will snow and ice, he said.

The county has plans to open shelters in case of power outages. There are no plans to pre-open shelters, but it will be played by ear if they need to offer shelter.

If you stay home and you lose power, how can you stay warm? Moore offered several options he uses at his home.

* Hot Hands, which offers hand warmers, also offers lap blankets, which are available for about $10 on Amazon.

* Mr. Heater portable Buddy heaters are available for about $100 and put out quite a bit of heat.

* Coleman BlackCat portable catalytic space heaters, which are tent heaters, are safe for indoor.

* A kerosene heater can heat up a huge room depending on the size you purchase.

Do not use a propane heater, Moore said. It would be safer to go to a shelter.

“It will fill your house with carbon dioxide and can poison you and lead to death,” he said.

Moore also issued a caution in using any kind of flame heater.

“It’s an open flame and the fireman in me says don’t use any of these but if you got to stay warm, you’ve got to stay warm,” he said. “So use them safely.”

Safely means:

* Don’t put them on wood.

* Don’t put them in front of something flammable.

* Make sure they’re sitting in a place that’s safe to have them used.

* Purchase a carbon monoxide detector, even if you’re using one that says they’re safe to use indoors. Put them low.

“This isn’t two years ago,” Moore said. “Yes it’s going to freeze for three nights in a row and two days we won’t maybe get above freezing. So could you have effects to the power grid? This is Texas, so apparently yes. Hopefully some of that stuff is fixed.”

Don’t forget to wrap external pipes as well, he said.

Warming Stations

The Burleson Recreation Center, 550 N.W. Summercrest Blvd., will be open and can be used as a warming stations during normal business hours. You do not need to be a member of the BRiCk to used the warming station.

The BRiCk is open from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday and 4:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday. It is important to note this location is not an overnight shelter.

The Salvation Army, 111 S. Anglin St. in Cleburne is also available as a warming station. For information, call 817-558-1296.

If your power goes out, contact your electric provider. Oncor can be reached at 888-313-4747, and United Cooperative Services can be reached at 817-447-9292.