During the fervor in celebrating Christmas, it is easy to forget about safety. When you have parties to attend left and right, gifts to buy, people to call and greet, safety could easily be the last in your list of priorities.
The United States Fire Administration has published a report that Christmas trees caused more than 200 fires EVERY YEAR. That translates to millions in damages to property, 25 people injured, and 6 deaths every year. Do not become a part of the statistic. Take precautions to be safe with your Christmas tree. MerryStockings.com shows you how:
Water to properly hydrate the tree. The best thing to remember when avoiding fires started by a Christmas tree is to make sure that it is properly watered. You should make sure that the reservoir beneath your Christmas tree never runs out of water.
In fact, you should get immediately soak the tree from the time you bring it home, and keep it fresh. If the water level goes below the tree stump, you should cut the stump and immediately put it back in water!
A quick tip: the average tree needs to be soaked in at least 7.6 liters of water!
Use electric lights. Open flames from lighted candles can easily start a fire. Instead of candles, use electric lights instead!
Check for short circuit. If you are going to use electric lights, make sure that it is still in fine working condition. This is especially true if you are recycling Christmas lights from the year before. Also, make sure that you buy lights that are quality approved. A substandard set of Christmas lights can short easily.
Unplug. Unplug the Christmas lights if you are leaving the house, even for just 15 minutes. A fire that is started by a Christmas tree could engulf the whole living room in a matter of minutes, so if you are going to go out, even for just a sec, unplug your lights.
