Holiday Disasters Can Strike Fast and Hard, Chiefs Say

At a Holiday Safety press conference held at the Pasadena Fire Station No. 33 on Thursday, Chief of Police Phillip L. Sanchez highlighted holiday dangers and Pasadena’s brand-new Fire Chief Bertral “Bert” Washington oversaw the burning of a Christmas tree as the pair offered tips on how to keep the holidays joyous and disaster-free.
Fire Chief Washington emphasized Christmas tree safety.

“Choose a fresh Christmas tree, and keep it watered at all times,” he said “Needles on fresh trees should be green. It should not fall off very easily. Don’t put your tree up to early or leave it up too long after Christmas. Dried out trees can easily ignite and create fires by spreading rapidly to nearby combustible materials.”

Christmas tree and light fires can cause fires that burn explosively and spread rapidly at high temperatures.

“You will need to add water almost every day, not is regular water good for the trees’ health, but a well-watered tree is less dry. So as trees are less dry and more moist, then again, they won’t catch fire easily at all,” Washington said.

“Make sure that you never ever let the water level go below the base of the tree,” he warned.

For more tips, see http://cityofpasadena.net/Fire/Holiday_Fire_Safety/