By Chowning Johnson
University of Georgia
The fire is lit, candles are burning and greenery is lining your
mantle piece. Your holiday home may look like a Martha Stewart
creation, but it can be a fire hazard.
Dona Johnson of Nashville, Tenn., knows firsthand. She had lined
her mantle with fresh-cut greenery and lit candles for her
holiday party. While she was entertaining guests in the other
room, the greenery caught fire.
“I was so shocked,” Johnson said. “We thought it was safe because
we placed the candles away from everything else. But they had
burned down, and the artificial decorations melted, igniting the
greenery.”
Luckily for Johnson and her family, one of the children smelled
smoke right away, and the flames that covered their entire mantle
were extinguished. They left only a black mark on the wood above
the mantle.
Prevent holiday fire
The holidays are a dangerous time for household fires.
“Dry, brittle greenery only needs one spark to go up in flames,”
said Kim Coder, a forester with the University of Georgia’s
Warnell School of Forest Resources. “Greenery dries extremely
fast and becomes extremely flammable.”
The first key to keeping your holiday greenery safe is replacing
it every week. If the needles bend, they’re still fresh. But if
they break, they’re dry and need to be replaced, Coder said.
Your greenery may be fresh, but that doesn’t mean it’s
flame-retardant. It’s important to keep in mind that fresh
greenery, like dry greenery, is still susceptible to fire.
What to do
Keep greenery cut from a live source in water until it’s ready
for use. Or dip the cut ends in wax.
“Treat it like fresh flowers,” Coder said. “Commercial sprays are
available that won’t make it fireproof but will make it much more
fire-resistant.”
An open flame is not the only hazard to your greenery. Space
heaters and other heat sources are also a threat.
“Always keep space heaters or any heat source pointed toward the
center of the room and away from any greenery or Christmas tree,”
Coder said.
Silk flowers or other decorations at the base of candlesticks or
wreaths can catch fire or melt, too. Plastic can melt and catch
other flammable items like greenery on fire, Coder said.
“Be very fire-conscious when you bring the forest inside,” Coder
said. “Forests do burn from time to time. And you don’t want that
to happen inside your home.”
(Chowning Johnson is a student writer with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
