Water It!

Once ignited, a dry Fraser fir, one of the most popular Christmas tree choices, bursts into flames in less than 7 seconds, and it will be consumed by fire in slightly more than a minute. But if a well-watered Fraser fir briefly ignites, the flame soon dies, which is why keeping your Christmas tree moist can be a matter of life-and-death importance.

Every holiday season, hundreds of homes catch fire when something as small as poor insulation on a Christmas tree light sparks or causes a small flame. Each year holiday trees fires cause 210 home fires, injure and kill dozens and cause more than $13.3 million in property damage, and one in nine Christmas tree fires lead to a death. Despite this, the most environmentally friendly option during the holiday season is to purchase a real Christmas tree instead of an artificial one.

Forester Robert Atchison says, "Right now in the United States there are probably a million acres growing around a half billion Christmas. While these trees are growing, they’re also providing all the environmental benefits that trees provide: they’re giving off oxygen, they’re absorbing carbon dioxide and they’re providing wildlife habitat. Just because trees are what they are, they’re much more environmentally friendly than a product made out of plastic that has PVC and in some cases, lead."

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