GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — “Christmas trees, this time of year, are the center of the home, they’re beautiful, but as they dry out, especially if we put those live trees up early, we have to play it safe when it comes to fire safety,” E.S.C.A.P.E. President Michael McLeieer said.
McLeieer told FOX 17 that if the tree appears to be getting dry or if the needles start falling off— it’s time to get it out of your home.
He says, even if there’s still water in the case of the tree, the tree isn’t absorbing water and is dried out once those needles start falling off.
“Dry trees are a huge fuel load,” he added. “If there happens to be an electrical short, if there happens to be another heat source near that tree, if someone has an open flame, they can go up very, very rapidly. And that can become an entire room and entire home fire very, very quickly.”
Many of our municipalities in West Michigan have curbside recycling, along with locations to drop off your Christmas tree for free.
The following are free drop-off sites provided by the city of Grand Rapids:
- Riverside Park (north entrance): 3151 Monroe Ave. NE
- Jaycee McKay Family Park: 2531 Kalamazoo Ave. SE
- Lincoln Park (west parking lot): 231 Marion Ave. NW
- Huff Park: 2286 Ball Ave. NE
The sites are open from December 30- January 31. Parking lot gates at the parks will be unlocked during daytime hours only.
“If people live in more of a rural area, if they don’t have curbside recycle, it may be you’re looking at actually disposing of that tree and burning it in the spring. Make sure that it’s away from any building and any structure. Even as that tree continues to dry out, it certainly can be a fire source,” McLeieer said. “When we do burn it, we make sure that the local municipality authorizes us to burn. Many times in the spring, if we don’t have enough green grass ripening up, we can still have the dry winter conditions, and grass fires and brush fires can spread very, very rapidly, especially with low humidity levels, low dew points and high windy days.”
ChristmasTreeSafetyTips-1 by WXMI on Scribd
In addition to your Christmas tree being a fire hazard, McLeieer says there are a few other things to keep in mind during the holiday season and winter months.
“If you are choosing to use space heaters, make sure you give them space. Keep them at least three feet away from anything that can catch fire. That could be clothing, that could be furniture, that could be the gifts themselves…and also, making sure when we go to bed, we leave the room or we leave the home, we make sure we turn those space heaters off,” he explained. “The other thing this time of year we need to keep in mind— never discard the wrapping paper in the fireplace. The wrapping paper should be placed in the disposable container outside our home. When we burn wrapping paper, many of the wrapping paper has other items impregnated in the wrapping paper that make it very volatile and very flammable, and they can burn extremely hot and that’s not safe for those ashes to go up our chimney.”
FOX 17 and E.S.C.A.P.E. Inc. teamed up with local fire departments and the American Red Cross to provide and install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in owner-occupied homes throughout West Michigan.
To schedule a free smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector installation, email safe@fox17online.com or call 844-978-4400.
