Live Christmas Tree Safety

For many trimming the Christmas tree is one of the biggest holiday traditions, but just how long can you keep your live tree in your home?

We caught up with Zanesvile Fire Department Chief Kevin Thomas, who was speaking at the weekly Noon Rotary Club meeting, and he shared with us some holiday fire safety tips.

"The normal fire safety tips we give around this year are be particularly careful with live trees. Make sure plenty of water, if the needles start to fall off a lot it’s time to probably get rid of it and take it out. Again, with the live tree as soon as possible after the holidays i’d go ahead and take it out of the house."

If a tree is not properly watered it will burn very quickly when exposed to an open flame. Chief Thomas said that if well taken care of it should last until the new year.

"There’s what’s called a needle test, and you take a needle off the tree and if you can snap it in half instead of kinda bending it, then the needles are dry enough that you should probably get a new tree."

Aside from live tree safety it’s also important to be careful with Christmas lights and candles during the holiday season.