Staged Christmas Tree Fire Shows Inferno After Only One Minute.
Scientists warn it only takes about a minute for a Christmas tree to become fully engulfed in flames.
Engineers at a University in Massachusetts staged a live exercise as firefighters stood by. They used a fresh Christmas tree that was left unwatered for three weeks in a room.
“What we’ll see in just a couple of seconds is we’re already getting a lot of smoke building up, and it’s only been 20 seconds since we started the fire and you can see that most of the tree has already been consumed,” Institute Fire Lab Director Raymond Ranellone said. “We’re having a lot of fire that’s rolling out above the ceiling, so if this were home imagine those flames are now moving to other parts of the house. We can see that we have smoke rising from both the carpet and the chair – and this is important because they’re not in direct flame contact with the tree, but they’re starting to burn.”
The entire tree engulfed the room in just 63 seconds. The National Fire Service says on average, about 210 home fires are started each year by Christmas trees.
In order to avoid a fire, researchers say to water the tree daily and not overload it with lights. Also they suggest not having the tree near a heater or fireplace.
