Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue wants everyone in the community to enjoy a safe and festive holiday season. A little knowledge about common holiday mishaps can help you avoid a big disruption to your celebrations. The National Fire Protection Association offers the following facts about holiday hazards:
- U.S. fire departments respond to an estimated average of 835 home structure fires per year that began with decorations, excluding Christmas trees. These fires caused an annual average of three civilian fire deaths, 30 civilian fire injuries, and $14 million in direct property damage.
- Electrical distribution or lighting equipment was involved in 41% of home Christmas tree fires.
- Nearly 20% of Christmas tree fires were started by lamps or bulbs, while 11% were started by candles.
- Roughly two of every five home Christmas tree fires started in the living room.
- Candle fires peak in December and January, with 11% of candle fires in each of these months.
- Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by Christmas Day and Christmas Eve.
- Year-round, 32% of home decoration fires are started by candles. This jumps to almost half in December, when candles start 46% of such fires. Cooking starts one-fifth of decoration fires.
