Firefighters demonstrate the dangers of dried-out Christmas trees

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — On Thursday, New Hanover Fire Rescue held a Christmas tree safety demonstration.

They showed how a dried-out live tree or a string of defective lights, could pose a fire risk.

To prevent a fire, Captain Kevin McDonald said it’s important to keep your live tree well-watered and hydrated.

“You can obviously make sure that you’re maintaining the water level in the bottom,” McDonald said. “Typically a tree is going to need several cups of water each day. And on top of that, you can check your tree. If you come along your leaves and you feel along the leaves of your tree and you start to get a lot of needles starting to fall off into your hand, your tree is starting to turn, its starting to get very dry.”

Southport Fire Department fought a Christmas tree fire several years ago.

Chief Charles Drew said it didn’t take much for the tree to catch fire.

“The tree was very dry condition and the family had lit a candle in celebration of the holidays coming up and a toddler had picked the candle up, walked by the tree and it went up like a torch,” Drew said. “Very, very fast ignition and it just engulfed the whole room.”

Both men say you should also keep your live tree at least 3 feet away from any heat sources like a space heater or fireplace.

And be sure to properly dispose of your live tree and never leave it leaning against the outside of your home.