(Arnolds Park)—With the holiday season being one of the peak times for house fires comes a reminder to keep safety in mind when putting up those Christmas lights. Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire Chief Chris Yungbluth offers these guideline for holiday decorating and Christmas trees…(click here for comment.) “If you do the artificial we don’t really talk about that a whole lot because most of those are pretty safe, but make sure that it is labeled as fire retardant. If you do go with a fresh tree which is great, they put a nice smell in your house and they’re fun to have around, just make sure that when you pick that, you make sure that it’s fresh, that the green needles don’t fall off when they’re touched, and when you do get that tree home, make sure and take care of it. You want to start off by cutting a couple inches off the base of the trunk, make sure it’s away from heat sources and it’s not blocking an exit, and the big one is you have to water it daily. If you don’t water it daily it dries out quickly and that’s when it becomes a fire hazard. As far as when you put the lights on the tree, make sure again they have labels from an independent testing laboratory, UL is an example of that, they’re not the only one that’s out there, but that’s a good one that’s usually out there. And see if it’s labeled for indoor or outdoor use. And then follow your manufacturer’s instructions. It says right on the strings of lights how many can be connected together. As a general rule of thumb we say three strands of the mini lights, ah, and a maximum of 50 bulbs for the screw in type, and then you have to kind of read with the new LED’s that are out there you have to read what they recommend as far as that goes. And when you leave the house or go to bed, turn the lights off.”
Additional tips and information can be found on the National Fire Prevention Association’s website or by contacting your local fire department.
