Outside a special lab at the University of Maryland’s Department of Fire Protection Engineering sat a couple Christmas trees that had been cut down a few weeks ago. One was promptly dropped in a five gallon bucket of water that was constantly kept full. The other one wasn’t.
When both of them were set on fire, the difference was significant — just like the fire that would erupt inside your living room if you didn’t water your tree.
Nationwide, a significant majority of the Christmas trees people put up are artificial. And while they’re not completely fire proof, they account for half as many fires as real trees do — though even that number is relatively small. However, the demonstration led by Isaac Leventon, a researcher at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology who also teaches at the university, showed just how catastrophic it can be when they do happen.
“For all structure fires that start in the home, one that starts with a Christmas tree versus another item is 4.4 times more deadly than just something else that started that fire,” Leventon said.
Most tree fires are sparked by some sort of electrical situation — it could be an overloaded wall socket or a bad strand of lights. But the single biggest difference in outcomes was whether or not the tree was hydrated. Remembering to check and water your tree every morning is pivotal.
The first tree he set up was about 7 feet tall and had been sitting in the bucket of water for the last three weeks. He started grabbing at the tree to show it was as healthy as it looked.
“They are flexible. We are not losing needles all over the floor,” he pointed out.
And when he ignited the tree, it burned, but not all the way. While an exhaust fan above the tree pulled the smoke out of the lab so everyone wasn’t overcome by the smoke, the fire eventually fizzled out. In fact, only a small section of the tree burned.
About 20 minutes later the tree that hadn’t been watered was set up. It was also about 7 feet tall, and the floor was already covered with needles that fell while Leventon and his team were setting it up.
“I can take branches from this tree and get a good snap right off of that,” he showed everyone watching. More needles fell to the floor when that happened.
“All of those are signs that your tree has dried out and it’s probably a higher fire safety risk than the well-watered one,” he said.
Minutes later, he lit that tree and in mere seconds it was fully engulfed in flames. In about three minutes, all that was left was the main trunk of the tree. Most of the branches had completely burned up. It looked like a long, black pole standing in the room.
And from 10 feet away, with an exhaust fan still pulling up the smoke away from everyone, it also generated an enormous amount of heat — the equivalent of about 20,000 or so 100-watt light bulbs.
Now imagine all of that confined to your living room. But be warned, it’s not giving you much time to escape from your home.
“If your smoke alarm goes off in 10-15, seconds, that’s great, but that fire is already at its peak size by then,” he said. “And it has the chance to ignite nearby furnishings and make that even larger.”
From there, it causes what he called a flashover.
“It’s now hot enough in the room that all the things in that room can burn,” Leventon said. “Furnishings, your couch, your chairs, tables, bookshelves, those kind of things. When you have large enough fires, all that heat can be trapped in your room.”
He said when buying a real tree, you want to cut about two inches off the bottom so the tree will drink in as much water as possible.
“Check that water level daily until it’s time to take it out of the house,” he said. “And then, of course, keep nearby ignition sources, poor wiring, heat sources, open flames, keep them away.”
The dryer the tree, the less of an ignition that’s needed to spark something dangerous or even deadly.
“But as the season goes on, no matter what you do, eventually that tree will dry out,” Leventon said. “So just check it, see if the needles are falling off, if they’re discolored, if the branches are no longer flexible. If you’re seeing those signs, it may be time to remove the tree from the house.”
The point of all this wasn’t to dissuade you from getting a real tree either, just to remind you to make sure you keep your real tree healthy, hydrated and away from many electrical hazards. And that you continue to be careful as long as you have it up.
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