Local business sets Christmas tree a blaze to demonstrate holiday fire safety
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IDAHO FALLS – The Idaho Falls Fire Department was on-hand Monday morning as Servpro employees lit a Christmas tree on fire.
Servpro Sales and Marketing Manager Jared Lusk tells EastIdahoNews.com the purpose of the fire was to demonstrate the safety hazards of having a real tree in your house if it’s not properly maintained.
“We’re burning it to show people (how quickly it will catch fire if it hasn’t been regularly watered or maintained),” Lusk says.
Lusk lit the tree a little after 11 a.m. and within about a minute, it was completely incinerated. See the blaze in the video player above.
Lusk offered a few tips and suggestions to properly maintain a Christmas tree, including watering it regularly and checking it daily to make sure there is enough water in the stand. Make sure all the wiring in your Christmas lights is in order and that the lights aren’t too hot or left on too long.
“Cats and dogs love chewing on wires … and having that (happen) can potentially cause an issue, too,” says Lusk. “Keep things up to par and ready to go so you (can prevent) the chances of starting an electrical fire.”
Christmas tree fires and candles are the two most common safety hazards during the holiday season nationwide every year. Lusk says they haven’t had any cases in eastern Idaho in the last two years.
Captain Aaron Nelson with the Idaho Falls Fire Department says there are a number of fire mishaps they respond to every year mostly due to negligence. Some of those include fires resulting from clothing and blankets that fall inside baseboard heaters.
Box heaters plugged into an outlet often cause electrical fires as well.
“People will forget that those things are on and they’ll put their blankets over them and be too close. That’s pretty common. We have cooking fires and the other thing we have is fireplaces. Everybody is firing up their fireplaces and they don’t have their chimneys swept,” Nelson says.
Nelson is urging people to be proactive in taking steps to be fire safe during the holidays. Don’t place any combustible material in front of heaters, maintain your furnace on a regular basis and make sure cords are plugged in all the way.
After all necessary precautions have been taken, Nelson says having a smoke detector that works could mean the difference between life and death.
“We see a lot of homes where these smoke detectors have been neglected over the years. They were put in 20 years ago and people forget about them. Most smoke detectors have an expiration date of 10 years after they were manufactured. Batteries need to be changed every six months,” says Nelson.
Servpro conducted a turkey fire last month that got a little out of control. Lusk is grateful to the fire department for being available to monitor and quickly extinguish the Christmas tree flames.