NFPA Recommends Taking Real Christmas Trees Down

If you had a real tree for Christmas this year, but you’re still in the festive mood and have not yet taken it down, the National Fire Protection Association says that you probably should. The NFPA says more than one-third of U.S. home fires involving Christmas trees actually occur in January. According to the latest data, there was an estimated annual average of 150 home structure fires that began with Christmas trees, resulting in one civilian death, 10 civilian injuries, and $14 million in direct property damage between 2017 and 2021. Lorraine Carli, vice president of Outreach and Advocacy for the National Fire Protection Association says real Christmas trees remaining in the home after the holiday continue to dry out and therefore become more flammable over time. So, they are involved in a much larger share of reported Christmas tree fires than artificial trees are.