It's the time of year when lights go up presents are wrapped and trees are lit. However the Lexington Fire Department says Christmas trees are often the reason they get a call.
"When people use live Christmas trees sometimes they put them up too early and they dry out, those trees should ne put up two weeks and no longer," said Capt. Arthur Ashley, with Lexington F.D.
Ashley says it's important to keep trees watered and make sure you get a tree with a sticky trunk and needles that don't break, since it can take less than a minute for a spark to engulf a living room off of one spark and as temperatures drop another cause of fires are space heaters.
"People have furniture clothing an article of clothing that is flammable close to the space heater causing the fire, a blanket could fall down on it, too close to curtains...in a child's room it could be a pillow falling down onto a space heater," said Ashley.
People should never leave a space heater unattended and make sure that all smoke detectors are working correctly and the batteries are replaces to prevent fires year-round. Ashley says over 1,600 people are injured in holiday fires which causes about 990 million dollars in damages nationwide each year.
Some other tips to keep your holidays fire-free? Don't overload electrical outlets and double check all lights and extension cords.
