VIDEO: The fire started small. Flickering yellow and orange flames emerged at the back of the Christmas tree. In less the 60 seconds, the tree fueled a raging blaze that engulfed the living room and sent thick black smoke billowing into the sky.
When it was extinguished by firefighters, just a charred wreck remained.
As New Jersey residents head to farms and garden centers this month in search of the perfect Christmas tree, fire safety officials staged a live burn Wednesday at the Monmouth County Fire Academy in Freehold as a reminder of the dangers decorated evergreens can pose without proper care. Among the biggest concerns is a dried out tree turning into a tinderbox.
“Once they do dry out, if they catch on fire, they are going to go. They are going to go very quickly,” said Richard Mikutsky, state fire marshal and director of the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety said at the demonstration, which also provided a side-by-side comparison to highlight the effectiveness of sprinklers in quickly suppressing fires.