Keeping Your Live Christmas Trees Too Long is a Fire Hazard Says NFPA

The Christmas holiday is over but a lot of us have a hard time letting go of that holiday feeling and like to keep those decorations and trees up a little longer.

But according to the National Fire Protection Association, that’s not really a good idea – especially if you have a live Christmas tree.

The NFPA says one-third or 33 percent of U.S. home fires involving Christmas trees occur in January.

With this post-holiday fire hazard in mind, they strongly encourage everyone to keep the festive memories but remove the hazards by disposing of Christmas trees promptly after the holiday season.

“As much as we all enjoy the look and feel of Christmas trees in our homes, they’re large combustible items that have the potential to result in serious fires…The longer Christmas trees remain in homes, the longer they present a risk,” noted NFPA Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy Lorraine Carli.

According to the latest Christmas Tree Fire report from NFPA, 160 home structure fires began with Christmas trees, resulting in two civilian deaths, 11 civilian injuries, and $12 million in direct property damage, on average each year between 2016 and 2020.

To safely dispose of a Christmas tree, NFPA recommends using the local community’s recycling program, if possible; trees should not be put in the garage or left outside.

In our area, you can safely dispose of your real Christmas tree by taking it to the Big Oaks Recreation area boat ramp in Hartwell or the Poplar Springs boat ramp in Gumlog and donating it to the Corp of Engineers to use as fish attractors in Lake Hartwell.

The Corps is taking live Christmas trees through January 16.