‘Using your head’: Fire up the holiday spirit without igniting your decorations
The holiday season is a time for stringing lights, relaxing by the fire, picking a Christmas tree and lighting a few winter-themed candles. While all these elements help add to a cozy atmosphere, they can also add to the perfect storm for a fire.
While Chelsea Fire and Rescue does not get many calls in regard to holiday fires, public information officer Paul Williams said it is important to stay alert when there are a heightened number of potential hazards.
“It’s all just kind of taking care of everything, kind of using your head,” he said. “Always be aware of what could happen and ways to try to prevent those things from happening, so you don’t have a disaster, whether it would be small or great.”
Regularly servicing chimneys and fireplaces is also a good way to prevent potential unwanted fires, Williams said. If a chimney is dirty, the buildup can pose a risk when a fireplace is lit, and a closed flue can fill a whole room with smoke quickly.
But generally, the main fire hazards around Christmas are candles.
“People will have decorations out that are candle-based, and they’ll oftentimes make the mistake of leaving the room and not having those candles under a watchful eye,” Williams said, noting that the candle might be left lit in an unoccupied room, or it could be left in a room with an unsupervised child.
Having a lit candle — or any open flame — unsupervised creates a risk, he said, because it can catch something else on fire. To prevent this sort of issue, Williams said it is important to extinguish candles when leaving the room and to keep any open flame away from flammable items.
One of the most flammable items during the holiday season can be a live Christmas tree.
“A lot of Christmas trees pose a risk because of the nature of them drying out and becoming very flammable,” Williams said. “They get so dried out that the flammability of them increases quite a bit, and it doesn’t take very much for them to become a problem around the house.”
Calls about trees catching fire are not a common occurrence, Williams said, but people need to be aware that all it takes is one bit of a dry tree to cause a much larger fire.
“The nature of the trees being so dry, and once they catch on fire, it just takes a matter of minutes for them to ignite a whole room,” Williams said.
Electrical fires are also possible, Williams said, especially when manufacturers’ warnings are not followed and stress is put on electrical outlets.
“The issue is usually people don’t pay attention to the manufacturer-suggested use of lights, and they’ll overuse their string of lights or end up putting too many plugs into an outlet strip,” he said.
Around the holidays, Chelsea Fire and Rescue aims to issue safety reminders so that people can avoid fires or at least do their best to prevent them.
“If everybody takes care and stays mindful and tries to be preventative, I think you’ll probably increase your chance of having a safe holiday,” Williams said.
One rule, Williams said, is good no matter what season it is.
“Always check your smoke alarms, that everything is up to date,” Williams said. “Because there is so much more probability of having fire hazards around the holidays, you want to make sure your house is equipped to give you the warning to allow you to exit the house.”
Holiday Hazards
Chelsea Fire and Rescue public information officer Paul Williams said it’s important to stay alert when there are a heightened number of potential hazards. Things to stay mindful of:
► Check smoke alarm ahead of setting up decorations;
► Service your chimney or fireplace;
► Do not leave lit candles unattended;
► Keep your live Christmas trees well-watered;
► Do not overstress electrical outlets.