SFD Fire Marshal Stein McMullen said Christmas trees can especially be a fire hazard during the holiday season.
Many lights are used to brighten community streets and homes during the holiday season, but the Starkville Fire Department recently gave advice for preventing a fire from making anyone’s holiday season too bright.
SFD Fire Marshal Stein McMullen said Christmas trees can especially be a fire hazard during the holiday season.
“It doesn’t take much to get a dry Christmas tree to start burning,” McMullen said. “ And when it does, it burns really, really hot.”
McMullen said it’s important to water live trees every day. Otherwise, the tree will dry out too quickly.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), from 2012 to 2016 fire departments across the U.S. responded to an average of 170 home fires that started with a Christmas tree, resulting in approximately four deaths.
“Most Christmas tree fires are from placing the tree too close to a heat source, candles or faulty (electrical) decorations,” McMullen said.
McMullen said Starkville has had one Christmas tree fire since he’s been at SFD and the fire was caused by a Christmas decoration. The NFPA reports that almost half of all Christmas tree fires are due to electrical distribution or lighting equipment.
“Using old decorations on a live Christmas tree is not a good idea because the chords get frail,” McMullen said. “Once the tree gets a little bit dry, just the least little bit of arcing can start burning.”
“The LED lights are a lot safer because they use so much less electricity than the regular bulbs,” McMullen added.
McMullen said it can also be a fire hazard to plug too many connecting chords into the ends of each other.
“There is a recommended amount that the manufacturer suggests,” McMullen said. “It’s usually three or five (connected chords). Anything over that makes the first on get hotter than it should.”
The NFPA also reports that over a quarter of Christmas tree fires are due to the tree being too close to a heat source or candle. In general, McMullen said candles and heat sources can be a fire hazard.
The NFPA reports that Christmas day is one of the top three days on the year for a candle fire to occur, with the other two days being New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
“If you have candles up, beware of cats and kids,” McMullen said. “There’s so much activity during the Christmas holidays. There’s always somebody throwing something, especially if they get a football or something like that for Christmas.”
McMullen also advised to never leave candles unattended, especially by a Christmas tree or a window with curtains.