Are Christmas Tree Fires as common as we think they are? Statistics and Safety precautions all in this blog.

   I would be derelict to ignore the fires in Southern California, I have a grandson down there fighting them, and a cousin in the San Fernando Valley. I don't know how to contact him, I saw the street his house is (or was on) in flames, I haven't seen him for many years. The Santa Ana's are gusting today between 50 and 80 miles per hour, burning an acre in one second, using that statistic the island we live on would burn completely up in 1/2 hour, hello reality. I have been in a lot of fires, they scare me enough to know to get out as fast as possible.

It's burning one acre per second.

  We have some sort of a coniferous tree in our living room, it's a potted tree that my wife planted last February, it has grown amazingly. It was planted when it was about 2 feet tall, it is now around 5 feet, it has lights and some Christmas tree ornaments on it. I was pretty adamant about using it this year, I don't want to spend $50.00 or more on something that has no further use, a discarded tree is not even suitable as firewood. The city I was raised in (Bloomington, Minnesota) would have residents stack their trees at the High School, in the middle of the football field then shoot a flaming arrow at it to ignite it. It was a spectacle, but I dought if that is still done. When we place them on the curb to be collected and hauled away generally they are used for mulch, ground cover or wood chips for boiler fuel. They dry out rapidly, the dryer they become the more dangerous they are.

  When I was very young, (in the year 1956) my Grandfather age 85 at the time, put out a Christmas Tree fire inside his and my Grandmothers house with his bare hands. He was burned fairly badly, as I recall it must have been second-degree burns, I do remember his hands were bandaged for a while. I remember the lights that were on it if you are ancient like I am maybe you recall seeing the "bubbler" lights. These lights were neat for a 6-year-old kid to look at, the bulb would heat up some sort of liquid in a test tube looking verticle tube, then bubbles would form. The bubbles started at the bottom of the glass, (clear plastic was rare then) and rose to the top, over and over again. They were powered with 110 volts all strung together, they would get warm to the touch, a lot of people had them like I said they were cool looking. I remember my mother telling me "don't touch those lights they are hot!" (what were they thinking?) The lights were terribly dangerous as well, especially when strung on a drying out coniferous tree. Well, Grandpa put the fire out and save the house, my Grandma passed away shortly after that, unrelated to the fire.

These are still available for purchase, they must be made
safer now, I would imagine.

  How dangerous are Christmas Trees? In the years 2011-2015 as reported by the National Fire Prevention Association, the first point of ignition in the study group of 200 structure fires was the Christmas Tree, resulting in 6 deaths, 16 injuries and $14.8 million in property damage from the fires. One in 32 reported Christmas Tree fires resulted in the death of one person, this is in comparison to 143 total deaths from reported home fires. Christmas Tree fires are actually not very common, but when they do occur they are much more likely to cause deaths than other fires. 42% of Christmas Tree fires take place in December, (OK, that's a no-brainer) another 37% were in January, 21% in the months of February through November.
  40% are caused by the lights and related electrical distribution equipment, extension cords, multi-plug adapters, and bare cords are the cause of 18% of the fires, wiring 13%, and cords and plugs 6%. Electrical failures are responsible for 25% of the incidents, many times electrical failures are unpredictable. 24% of the fires were arson, with 48% of arson fires occurring in January, 15% were caused by heating equipment, 6% caused by someone playing with matches, candles accounted for 8% of the fires in homes. Many years ago, people would decorate the trees with candles, what the heck was the thought process involved in that?
  37% started in the living room or den, 72% of the deaths and injuries happened in these areas of the house, 6% were chimney fires. Christmas Tree fires have been on the decline since 1980 lasting through the 1990's, overall the occurrence of the fires dropped 80% from the peak in 1980 of 850 to 170 in the years of 2014 and 2015. It must be mentioned home fires fell 50% overall in the same time period. Fires involving natural trees as compared to artificial trees are at a ratio of 3 (natural) to 1 (artificial), further the ratio of 20-1 for injuries (again natural to artificial) and 5-1 for property damage, it appears the artificial trees are safer. Zero deaths have been reported as being related to artificial trees, natural trees are bought at a ratio of approximately 2-3, with the artificial being used more than one year. This is a little confusing but 78% of U.S. citizens said they would have a Christmas Tree in their homes, (100 million homes) with 19% being real and 81% being artificial. The math doesn't seem to work out however when taking into account the artificial trees are used many years it does make sense.
  I started writing this with the expectation of Christmas tree fires being more common, perhaps it is due to the short time period they are in use, typically two months. Even though they are relatively rare, to the households that experience them they are a life-changing event. What can we do to lessen the chances of a tree catching on fire in our homes and places of assembly?
  *  Purchase a fresh tree, being certain the needles are green and not falling off, look for brown needles, the limbs should be bendable if they snap off the tree is drying.
  *  Water every day, when watered daily testing shows the moisture content of the tree can maintain 70%.
  *  Read the information accompanying your lights and other decorations, check to be certain they are flame-retardant, tested by a reputable testing lab.
  *  Inspect your decorations for compromised wires, lights, and plugs.
  *  Do not connect more strings of lights than what is recommended by the manufacturer, do not use more than 50 screw in bulbs on one strand.
  *  Make sure your tree is a safe distance from the fireplace, wood stove, and any other open flames. (a minimum of 3 feet is recommended).
  *  Don't block doorways with the tree, we must have a way out.
  *  Turn the lights out prior to going to bed, it's a bother sometimes but don't leave them plugged in.

Now to choose that perfect tree, make sure it's fresh.

  *  Remove the tree as soon as possible after Christmas day, the day after New Years is a good target. If the needles start falling off, get it out of the house asap, even if it is prior to Christmas, purchase of a new one may be prudent.
  *  Last but not least, install a new battery in your smoke detector, if you don't have one, it is advisable to get one.
  Christmas Trees are safer than I initially thought, however, safety precautions are what has caused them to become a declining disaster creator. I wasn't too surprised by the suggestions to water the tree daily, I have a neighbor that watered an outdoor tree (25 foot tall scotch pine) to rid it of pollen, it saved her house when the neighbors home caught on fire, that tree did not burn even though it was 20 feet from the totally engulfed structure.
  Thank you for reading and sharing my blog, this is meant as an informative article, I wrote it with the intention to lessen concerns about Christmas Tree fires, I'm like that, I have always worried about the tree igniting in the middle of the night, giving us 3 minutes or less to grab our emergency kit and get out of the house.
   Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, have a great holiday season.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com