It’s
the most wonderful time of the year, as the song goes. But with the lovely
atmosphere of the holiday season come some scary statistics: 240 house fires a
year occur because of trees and another 150 fires occur because of lighting
displays, 21 deaths and $25.2 million in damages as the result of these fires. Read
on for some tips on how to prevent these fires for a safe and happy holiday
season.
First
and foremost, practice proper home fire safety. For these tips, refer to our
fire safety blog post. As additional safety precautions, make sure all
exits are clear and not blocked by trees or decorations.
Christmas/Holiday
Trees
- Most fires involving trees occur because of shorts in the electrical wiring of lights. Before you decorate your tree, check your light strands for broken or twisted wires, bulbs that don’t light or that flicker, and plugs that aren’t cracked.
- If you have a real tree, you need to make sure that it is properly watered each day and that dry needles are cleaned up. No cords can be hanging into the water of course. When choosing your tree, the needles should be green and difficult to pull from the branches and the trunk should be sticky. If you bounce the tree on the ground and several needles fall off, the tree has been cut too long and is dried out.
- Fires also occur when open flames from candles light the tree. If you have candles, keep them a safe distance from the tree. If you decorate your tree with candles, use LED flameless candles for safety.
- Keeping the tree away from heating sources like the fireplace, register and woodstove is another way to keep fires from happening.
- When you get rid of your tree, do not burn it in a fireplace or woodstove. Properly dispose of it at a recycling center or during community pick-ups.
Holiday Lights
- Again, check your light strands before using them for the year. Only use ones that are listed as being tested in a laboratory.
- Do not overload sockets! This is such a big problem at the holiday times. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation shows Clark Griswold far overloading his sockets. While it’s a funny movie, it’s not a funny way to light things. Never connect more than three strands of lights. Connect strings of lights to an extension cord that is properly grounded before plugging them into an outlet. Check the strands periodically to make sure they are not warm to the touch.
- Don’t leave lights unattended.
- Use outdoor cords outside and indoor cords inside. Manufacturers have made the distinctions for a reason.
- Never put staples through a cord you are hanging. Most hardware stores sell insulated clips specifically for hanging lights.
- Use bread bag twist ties or storage bags to store your cords safely and neatly so you won’t have the headache of trying to untangle them next year!
- Try not to store them in cold, damp basements and garages or hot and humid attics.
Holiday
Decorations
- Only use non-flammable decorations.
- Don’t block exits.
- Do not burn wrapping paper in the fireplace or woodstove. We mentioned this during our heating safety blog.
Candles
- Avoid using real candles if you can. The flames are likely to jump with people moving around during parties or whatnot. Use flameless LED candles to light up your home with festive glows.
- Do not use real candles in your tree.
- If you do have real candles, place them in a place where they cannot be knocked over and are in stable holders. Make sure they are at least 12 inches from anything flammable. Never go to bed or leave the house with candles burning.
