Holiday Fire Safety in Southern Colorado: Trees, Fireplaces & What to Do After a Fire

Between Thanksgiving and New Year's, our phone rings more for fire than any other time of year. It's rarely anything exotic. It's a dry tree, a candle left burning, a fireplace that hasn't been cleaned, or a string of lights that's seen better days. Here in Southern Colorado, our low humidity and heating-season habits stack the odds a little further. Here's what we'd tell a neighbor over the fence.

Why holiday fires happen in Colorado homes

Our air is dry, and a cut tree dries out faster here than almost anywhere. Add wood stoves, space heaters, and extra cooking, and you get a lot of ignition sources in one living room. Most of what we see is preventable with ten minutes of attention.

Christmas trees

• Buy fresh. Needles should bend, not snap. Give the trunk a fresh cut and put the tree in water right away.
• Water daily. A tree can drink a quart or more a day in a heated house. Check it every morning.
• Keep it 3 feet from heat. Fireplaces, wood stoves, baseboard heaters, and floor vents all count.
• Get rid of it after the holidays. A dry tree in the corner in mid-January is a hazard.

Lights and cords

Check each strand for cracked insulation and bare wire. Don't run extension cords under rugs, and don't plug several space heaters or strands into one power strip. Turn lights off when you leave or go to bed.

Candles

Keep them in sturdy holders, away from anything that hangs or drapes, and never leave them unattended. Battery candles look fine and cost almost nothing.

Fireplaces and wood stoves

Have the chimney inspected and cleaned before you light the first fire of the season. Creosote buildup is a real chimney fire risk. Use a screen, and let ashes cool for days before they go in a bin. A metal bin, not cardboard or plastic, and never on a deck or against the house. We covered related heating risks in our furnace puff-back guide and space heater fire article.

Holiday cooking

Grease fires start fast. Stay in the kitchen while you fry, keep a lid nearby, and never put water on a grease fire. Our kitchen grease fire cleanup guide has the details.

If a fire does happen

1. Get everyone out and call 911. Stuff is replaceable.
2. Don't go back in until the fire department says it's safe.
3. Call your insurance company and start a list of what was damaged. Our documentation checklist walks you through it.
4. Call a restoration company quickly. Soot is acidic and keeps working on surfaces, and the water used to put out the fire needs drying so mold doesn't follow.

Call us any hour, including holidays, at (719) 676-2456.

What cleanup looks like

Fire damage is usually three problems at once: soot, smell, and water. We board up and secure the property, dry out anything the hoses soaked, clean soot from surfaces with the right method for each material, and deal with the odor at its source instead of masking it. Our guides on odor removal and salvaging belongings explain what to expect. You can read more on our fire and smoke damage service page.

Serving the whole region

We're based in Colorado City and work in Pueblo, Cañon City, Florence, Walsenburg, Trinidad, Alamosa, and Colorado Springs. See our Pueblo service area page for what we cover.

A short checklist before the holidays

• Test every smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector; replace batteries.
• Know two ways out of every bedroom, and practice them with kids.
• Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and know how to use it.
• Water the tree, unplug lights at night, blow out the candles.

We're a veteran-owned, family-run company, and our team includes IICRC-certified technicians. We'd much rather you never need us. But if you do, we'll pick up at (719) 676-2456, and we'll treat your home the way we'd treat our own. Stay safe this season.