Watering your Christmas tree could be a matter of life or death, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US.
The message is dramatically portrayed in a video showing a side-by-side comparison of the fire hazard of a dry Fraser fir with that of a well watered tree. The dry tree bursts into flames less than seven seconds after ignition and is consumed by fire in just over a minute. The well watered specimen, on the other hand, briefly ignites but the flame soon dies out.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, holiday tree fires cause 210 home fires each year, injure and kill dozens of people and cause more than $13 million in property damage. The NFPA also reports that one in nine Christmas tree fires lead to a death.
In the video, the needles on the tree on the left are fully moist; the moisture content of the other tree’s needles is less than 10%. As the video begins, the trees are ignited with a small flaming source. By the end of the video, the well-watered tree stands tall and green, while the dry tree is a charred remnant.
The NIST Fire Safety for the Holidays website shows videos of earlier experiments that tell similar stories. Dry Scotch Pine Tree Fire shows the damage a dry tree exposed to an open flame can cause in a lighted room full of furniture. All is ablaze until the room is in total darkness within 46 seconds.
2023 Fire Safety eBook – Grab your free copy!
Download the Fire Safety in 2023 eBook, keeping you up to date with the biggest news and prosecution stories from around the industry. Chapters include important updates such as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and an overview of the new British Standard for the digital management of fire safety information.
Plus, we explore the growing risks of lithium-ion battery fires and hear from experts in disability evacuation and social housing.
