It might be time for you to think about taking your live Christmas Tree down. Carma Hanson of Safe Kids Grand Forks, is helping to spread the word and keep people informed and educated about the dangers of fire and carbon monoxide. The live Christmas tree, especially those that went up maybe on Thanksgiving or right after are sure to be getting dry. When is a good time to consider removing the tree from your house? “If you do have a live tree in your home, they could be getting to that point where it’s time to get rid of them,” says Hanson. “We don’t want them to become a fire/burn hazard.” Hanson says that you don’t want to take the chance of leaving the tree up to long and ending up with a fire in your home. Of course the live tree isn’t just a fire hazard in the home at this point. “When you do take your tree out it’s important to put it down at the end of the driveway or on the berm,” says Hanson. “You don’t want that up by the house, trees can spontaneously combust and you don’t want it up near something that can catch on fire.”
What can you look for as you are trying to decide if the tree has become too dry? “The way we say that you should test it is, if you take one of the needles off of the tree and put it between your thumb and forefinger,” says Hanson. “Squeeze the two together and if that needle breaks between your fingers that’s telling you its dried out and needs to get out of there.” Hanson says if the needle still bends it’s probably still hydrated enough but to keep watering the tree and check the needles often to make sure they are not dropping from the tree and that they continue to bend not break.
As always, it’s important to make sure you have working smoke detectors in the home. “As we are talking about fires you know, again, a reminder, that having working smoke alarms on every level of your house outside of sleeping areas is really important,” says Hanson. “Check them every month and make sure the batteries in them still work.”
