- Prevention and safety information to help Americans stay safe from fire.
- Fire prevention resources for America’s career and volunteer Fire Service.
- Coloring pages, puzzles and games that teach kids how to stay safe from fire.
Reducing Holiday Fire Hazards
Media stories can save lives! A news story about a residential fire provides a valuable opportunity to give your community a safety message during a teachable moment. Drop in these prevention tips and facts, and you just might save a life.
All U.S. homes should have working smoke alarms.
Fires can be prevented. A few easy steps can save your life!
Trees
- When buying a live tree, check for freshness - green needles, trunk sticky with resin, and few lost needles when tapped on the ground.
- Never place a fresh Christmas tree next to a heat source. Heat dries out trees and makes them easier to catch on fire.
- Keep your tree stand filled with water at all times.
- When the tree gets dry, get rid of it. Look for a recycling center near you.
- Never burn a Christmas tree or its branches in a fireplace or wood stove.
- When buying an artificial tree, look for the label "Fire Resistant" or "Flame Retardant."
Lights, candles, and other decorations
- Use only Underwriters Laboratories- or Intertek- (ETL) listed holiday lights.
- Check lights each year. Replace those with frayed or heavily kinked wires, gaps in insulation, or cracked sockets.
- When decorating outside, use only lights labeled for outdoor use.
- Do not link more than three strings of lights.
- Turn off holiday lights when you leave your home or go to bed.
- Use sturdy candle holders and place them where they're unlikely to be knocked over.
- Blow out candles before you leave your home or go to bed.
- Do not burn wrapping paper in the fireplace.
Holiday Entertaining
- When cooking for guests, stay in the kitchen and keep an eye on the stove.
- If you or your guests smoke, do it outside.
- Provide deep ashtrays for smokers. Before dumping ashes in the trash, soak them in water.
- After a party, check for ashes and butts on the floor and seat cushions where people were smoking.
Holiday Fire Facts
- Fire deaths are highest in the winter months.
- During the holiday season each year, fires injure about 2,600 people.
- Christmas trees are associated with 210 fires each year, resulting in 24 deaths, 27 injuries, and about $13 million in property losses.
- Holiday and other decorative lights cause about 240 fires each year. One fifth of these fires start in Christmas trees.
- Christmas Day is the peak day of the year for home candle fires.