As you prepare to decorate your home for the holidays, it is important to keep safety at the foremost part of your mind. According to the National Fire Protection Association, there is an average of 300-400 home fires a year caused by holiday lights and trees. The greater amount of these fires is caused by trees—artificial and real. By following these safety tips, you will keep your home safe this holiday season.
1 – Fire Resistant
While many artificial trees do come in a fire resistant material, not all artificial trees are fire resistant so it is important to check the label on the box to make sure your tree is before you buy it. If you don’t see a fire resistant label on the box, it is a good idea to just buy a different tree.
2 – Buy It Green
If you are buying a real tree for your holiday decorating this year, you will want to make sure it is a green tree. Some trees have dried out sitting on a lot and are therefore, more at a risk to catch fire. The first thing to look for is a green color to the tree and this should be a vibrant rich green as an indicator that the tree is still fresh. Signs of a dried tree are pine needles that fall off easily when you tug on them or that you can snap easily in your fingers. The place on the trunk where the tree was cut should be moist and sticky to touch. If you move the tree and see a rainfall of needles, that is a sign that the tree is too dry and you should look for something fresher.
3 – Distance From Heat
When setting up a live tree in your home, you will want to keep it at a safe distance from any heat source such as a fireplace, radiator, or heating vent. Doing this will keep your tree from drying out and becoming a large matchstick waiting for a spark.
4 – Light Inspection
When buying lights, whether for inside or outside of your home, always make sure that you buy ones that have a label stating they have been tested for safety. When you look on the label, you want to make sure that the inspection was conducted by a lab that is independent of the manufacturer. If you do not see any lights with this inspection sticker on the package, it is not a good idea to buy them.
5 – Check For Damage
This seems like common sense, but you would be surprised at the amount of people that do not do this simple check before hanging lights they used the year before. Frayed cords can reveal the wiring inside and create a fire hazard. If your lights have a plug that has been bent or one of the prongs are missing, you should not use these lights unless they are repaired.
6 – Don’t Overplug
A well-known holiday movie shows a scene where multiple plugs are inserted into an electrical outlet with connectors and while it makes for a humorous moment, there is nothing humorous about a house fire that started because someone used too many plugs. You should only be plugging three strings of lights into a single extension cord and no more than two plugs in an electrical outlet.
Related articles
- American Christmas Tree Association Urges Holiday Fire Safety Awareness (prweb.com)
- Holiday Pet Safety (iowadogtrust.wordpress.com)
- Just in Time for the Holidays: Fire Awareness and Prevention American Christmas Tree Association Joins National Fire Protection Association to Urge Fire Safety Awareness (prweb.com)
- Safety of Pre-Lit Artificial Christmas Trees (christmastreeforme.com)
- Tips for a Safe Holiday Season – from SLCPD (parleyswayneighborhoodwatch.wordpress.com)
