Don’t let your live Christmas tree become a fire hazard

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The holidays may be over, but fire officials say the danger from live Christmas trees is actually increasing.

The Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of State Fire Marshal is urging families to remove dried-out trees from their homes before they become a serious fire hazard.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, more than a third of Christmas tree fires happen in January. Once a tree dries out it, it can ignite quickly, burn intensely and allow flames to spread through a home in just minutes.

Paul Martin, assistant chief to the State fire Marshal prevention bureau, said the longer a real tree stays inside, the more dangerous it becomes. He warns that dry trees burn hot and fast putting both property and lives at risk.

“Every year in the nation we see about 200 fires related to Christmas trees and a lot of them due to under water of the trees drying out and when you think about that, you basically have a big tinder bundle in your living room that could go up very quickly. The thing that I was trying to tell people about Christmas tree fires in general is, when they burn, they burn really fast and they burn really hot so it gives you little time to escape the fire so they’re very dangerous fires as well,” said Martin.

Fire officials also recommend keeping real trees well-watered while they’re still on display, checking water levels often and never letting the stand run dry. When it’s time to take the tree down, Ohioans are encouraged to use local recycling programs to pick up the trees safely.