Christmas Trees Fire Safety Tips.

13th December 2012

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Do you here what I hear?The fire alarm!

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Christmas Trees

Selecting trees:

· Needles should be green and hard to pull back from the branches· Trunk should be sticky to the touch
· Bounce the tree trunk on the ground if lots of needles fall off it’s dried out

Caring:

· Do not place your tree close to a heat source including a fireplace or heat vent
· Do not put your live tree up too early or leave it up for longer than two weeks
· Keep the tree stand filled with water at all times.

Disposing of tree:

· Never put tree branches or needles in a fireplace or wood-burning stove
· Dispose of your tree by taking to a recycling center or having it hauled away by a community pick-up service.

Statistics:

U.S. fire departments respond to an estimated annual average of 240 home fires thatbegan with Christmas trees.

These fires caused:

Electrical problems were factors in 33% of home Christmas tree fires

A heat source being too close to the tree were factors in 20% of these fires

Candles started 11% of home Christmas tree fires

http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/christmastrees_sum.pdf

Holiday Lights

Maintain lights by inspecting them each year for:

Do not link more than 3 light strands together

Wires should never be warm to the touch

Statistics:

Holiday lights were involved in an average of 150 home fires per year, resulting in anaverage of:

Electrical problems caused 73% of these fires

Flammable objects too close to the lights caused 15% of the fires

http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/christmastrees_sum.pdf

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