Christmas is filled to the brim with cultural rituals, which add symbolic meaning and colour to the holiday season. These include putting up the Christmas tree and dressing it in colourful decorations, gorging on rich and fatty foods, and gift-giving.
These are all fun traditions, but they are also accompanied by an underlying concern about safety. We want our families to enjoy their Christmas, but to do so safely.
In This Guide:
- How to reduce the risk of Christmas tree fires
- Preparing the ground for your tree
- Positioning your tree
- Keeping your tree safe once it is in place
- Pet safety
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How to reduce the risk of Christmas tree fires
Setting up a Christmas tree indoors is great fun – especially when it’s festooned with lights and decorations. However, taking a tree into your property is also a potential fire hazard. A fire isn’t just an inconvenience. It can cause substantial damage, personal injury, and even loss of life.
These are not reasons to avoid Christmas trees. But it’s wise to take sensible precautions.
Here are some safety tips.
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Preparing the ground for your tree
Let’s look at the basics. If your building is unsafe to start with, you’d be daft not to sort it out. This is like making sure your car is roadworthy before you get in and drive it. If the brakes are faulty, you’re risking life and limb.
- Are the electrics in your building – commercial or domestic – up to standard?
- Do you have adequate smoke and fire alarms that will alert you, even if you’re asleep? Have you tested the alarms?
- Do you have fire extinguishers or other fire suppression equipment to hand? If so, is it in working order?
- Is anything blocking your fire exits – and are they easy to open from inside?
If you’ve taken adequate safety measures for your home or office, that’s great. But if you haven’t – and if you don’t have time to sort them out now – it’s vital to take extra care with your tree. The last thing you want is to bring a fire hazard into a building that might already be high risk.
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Positioning Your tree
Just to be clear, the following tips apply to any building – even homes and offices that a qualified fire assessor has given a clean bill of health. Also, bear in mind that electrical problems cause a quarter of Christmas tree fires.
- Position your tree so it doesn’t block your fire exits.
- Keep the tree well away from heat sources, such as radiators, candles, live-fires, and lights.
- Even if your building’s electrics are in good nick, what about the lights and wiring on your tree? LED lights are safer because they operate at lower temperatures.
- Don’t connect too many plugs into one wall socket.
- If you have a real tree, make sure that it doesn’t get too dry. Buy one that’s freshly cut and then keep it hydrated.
- Avoid decorations made from tissue-paper, cardboard, or other materials that might easily catch fire when exposed to heat.
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Keeping your tree safe once it is in place
Great. You’ve decorated the tree and the lights are in good working order. Now you need to keep it safe.
- Unplug the lights when you are asleep or away from the building.
- Make sure that electric leads don’t become trip hazards.
- Don’t let children or pets chew or damage the electrical wiring.
Official UK fire statistics show December is the most common month for house fires. And insurers receive more fire claims in December than in any other month. Don’t let it happen to you!
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Pet Safety
Final thought – and nothing to do with fires – beware of storing chocolates beneath your tree if you have a dog. Chocolate is poison to dogs and could land you with a very sick pet and a hefty vet’s bill.
If you’d like a quick chat about fire safety for your building or your Christmas tree, give us a call on 0330 124 8521.