FOUNTAIN, CO — Many of us already have our holiday decorations up. So, we want to make sure you and the family stay safe with all of your holiday decorations. I talked with the Fountain Fire Department. They say they generally see an uptick in structure fire calls during the holiday season.
Jared Cass at the Fountain FD gave me some of the biggest culprits of holiday fires. Those are:
- Dry Christmas trees
- Damaged lights
- Decor placed too close to heat sources.
If your tree is real, Cass says to make sure you water it every day. Dry trees are a huge fire danger. He says damaged lights are what typically ignite trees but overloading outlets can also cause fires.
Cass tells me something we all need to remember with our holiday lights and candles. “Lots going on it’s easy to get distracted and people start cooking a meal and then leave the kitchen and when that happens inevitably something happens the water boils out of a dish that oil gets too hot and it can easily ignite a cooking fire from that and we actually probably see more of those than we do from Christmas tree fires.”
Also, there's something we should all remember before going to bed, according to Cass. “You should not go to bed with a candle or lights on, so even if it’s just light bulbs that are on your Christmas tree, you should not go to bed with those on. You should not go to bed with lights on on the side of your house once you go to bed, everything should be shut off. That’s the safest way and that’s our recommendation.”
I’m also told checking your smoke detectors could save your life in case of a fire. If you have a real tree, remember it’s still a fire hazard, even after the holiday. So, Cass says to be sure to recycle those real trees properly.
