Chicago Fire Department warns of fire dangers this holiday season
Chicago Fire Department warns of fire dangers during the holidays
The Chicago Fire Department put on an eye-opening demonstration Thursday to show the potential dangers of holiday decorations.
CHICAGO - The Chicago Fire Department put on an eye-opening demonstration Thursday to show the potential dangers of holiday decorations.
Firefighters placed a festive living room scene outside, placed a candle too close to a live Christmas tree, and within moments flames began to spread. A couple of minutes later, the tree that hadn't been watered in 2 weeks got torched.
"You see once it got underneath that tree and hit that kindling of that dry tree, it really took off," said Walter Schroeder, Chicago Fire Department District Chief.
At the Quinn Fire Academy, CFD showed just how quickly a Christmas tree can burn in your home. Almost a third of fires they see this time of year are caused by holiday decorations.
Big culprits include dry trees, especially when too close to a space heater or fireplace.
Also electrical fires, caused by frayed Christmas lights or overloaded outlets, as well as candles.
"I love candles, but be aware that more than one-third of home decoration fires are started by candles," said Annette Nance-Holt with the Chicago Fire Department.
"Before you head to bed or out for the evening, extinguish all those candles, turn off all the Christmas lights in your home as well," said JC Fultz, State Fire Marshall PIO.
The Chicago Fire Department does this demonstration every year, because every year they have to respond to deadly fires during the holiday season.
"It is such a tragedy that can be avoided by some simple steps. Not leaving that flame by its side and not having that space heater too close or overloading that electrical outlet and making sure if you have a live tree, water it. Very simple steps," said Chief Schroeder.
The final tip, and maybe most crucial one, is to check your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. Firefighters say more than half of the fire fatalities they see don’t have a working smoke detector.