POUGHKEEPSIE (03 Dec 05) - On Saturday, December 3rd, 2005, the Dutchess County Professional Firefighters Association put on a Christmas Tree fire demonstration. The association, which includes the City of Beacon Professional Firefighters along with Arlington,City of Poughkeepsie, Fairview, Lagrange, and Pleasant Valley Professional Firefighters; conducted the demonstration voluntarily on their time off.

The members built a fully furnished 10x10 room in which a Christmas tree was ignited. The tree quickly became involved setting off the smoke detector which would have alerted residence to the danger. Fire extended to the chair next to the tree and shortly consumed the entire room.

The purpose of the demonstration was to alert the local media on the dangers of the christmas tree in the household. This is so that the citizens of the county would be more aware of this danger. On average 1 in every 22 Christmas tree fires results in death. According to the NFPA Christmas trees cause an average of 310 fires a year resulting in 14 deaths, 40 injuries, and $16.2 million in damage.

We all ask that you check your smoke detectors and have a happy and safe holiday season. Also check out the page below in our department's fire prevention section that goes into detail about this danger:

<<Christmas Tree/ Holiday Safety Page>>