Winter Holiday Fire Facts

12/8/2021 (Permalink)

Christmas Trees

• Between 2015-2019, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 160 home fires. These fires started due to Christmas tress. 
• Electrical distribution or lighting equipment was involved in almost half of home Christmas tree fires. 
• In nearly one-fifth of Christmas tree fires, some type of heat source, such as a candle or equipment, was too close to the fire. 

Holiday Decorations 

• U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 790 home fires per year that began with decorations, excluding Christmas trees.
• One in five home decorations fires occurred in December. 
• Year-round, more than one-third of home decoration fires were started by candles. Cooking started 19% of decoration fires, 12% involved electrical distribution and lighting equipment, heating equipment was involved in 11%, 8% were intentionally set and smoking materials started 7% of fires. 

Holiday Cooking

• Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. 
• Cooking equipment was involved in one of every five home decoration fires. This can happen when a decoration is left on or too close to a stove or other cooking equipment.