Faribault Fire Chief Wants a Fire Free Christmas

Dustin Dienst, Faribault Fire Chief stopped by KDHL to give us some safety tips for the next couple of weeks.

Christmas followed by New Year's a week later. He looked up some information from the State Fire Marshall's Office and I was armed with some information from the National Fire Protection Association. (NFPA)

This statistic alarmed me and Dienst. An estimated average of 7,400 home fires started by candles caused an average 90 civilian deaths, 670 civilian injuries, and $291 million dollars in direct property damage per year between 2015 and 2019.

Dienst said he doen't get caugh up in the dollars in property damage figures but the loss of life and the injuries are tragic because they are "preventable."

Dienst also recommended people get rid of their live Christmas tree as soon as they are done with it. Dried-out trees are a fire danger and should not be left in the home or garage, or placed outside against the home.

In Faribault you may take your tree to the White Sands Dog Park for disposal. There will be a pile where you can put the tree. You must deliver the tree to the pile. There is no cost for this service.

There are a couple ways the trees are recycled.

Dienst recommends using UL (United Laboratories) lights. Some lights are only for indoor or outdoor use.

Never use lit candles to decorate a tree. Always turn off Christmas tree lights before leaving home or going to bed.

A podcast of our AM Minnesota visit with the Fire Chief is below.

This is awesome.