EAST CORNING, N.Y. (WENY) -- Your Christmas tree may be up and decorated in the corner of your living room, but it's important to ensure it doesn't dry out. The Corning Joint Fire District hosted a Christmas tree fire demonstration to showcase the dangers and how fast things could go wrong.

According to the December 2022 Christmas Tree Fires research report from the National Fire Protection Association, from 2016 to 2020, fire departments in the United States responded to an estimated average of 160 home structure fires per year that began with the ignition of Christmas trees.

The last thing you'd want on Christmas morning is a visit from your local firefighters.

"Statistics nationally on Christmas tree fires and other fires associated with Christmas ornaments are pretty sobering and when it happens, it can be devastating for families, both financially and the potential for loss of life," said David Shafer the Chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners in the Corning Joint Fire District. "So we staged this demonstration today through the Corning Joint Fire District to try and raise awareness about the prevalence of these types of fires and encourage people to take preventative measures."

Friday's demonstration was held at the East Corning Volunteer Fire Department, where members lit up the Christmas tree in a not-so-festive way. The flames were a visual attempt to showcase the potential dangers that a real Christmas tree can cause in a home if not taken care of properly.

"So one of the main fire hazards that we demonstrated here today was the outlet," said Allan Atherton, a firefighter from the East Corning Volunteer Fire Department. "Where the outlet is, you have power strips, you have other things that are going to it, you want to make sure that the power strip isn't overloaded, otherwise it can cause electrical hazards and it will ultimately catch on fire. "

There are several precautions that you can take to prevent a Christmas tree fire.

Another East Corning volunteer firefighter, Samuel Polanco, shares that the dryness of a tree and keeping the lights on at night can be a huge problem. So, Polanco says if you have a real tree, you need to keep it watered and ensure the lights are turned off when you go to bed at night.

"So then, as you can see, then the tree suddenly just ignited," said Polanco. "And that's what we try to say when this tree dries up, it has the potential to ignite and it's gonna take off. Then the room flashed over. Everything in the room got to the heated point that everything could catch fire. So that's when we saw the big plume of fire come out and then that's when we decided to put out, just so everybody could see, that visual of how the tree can light everything up instantly and how hot it gets."

Keeping the tree watered, using safe string lights for decoration, and, once the tree has dried out, disposing of it properly and doing so as soon as possible are just a few safety tips to keep in mind to keep you, your tree, your pets, and your loved ones safe during the holiday season.

The NFPA has a full list of holiday safety tips available here. One sheet on the website containing safety tips specifically for Christmas trees can also be found below.

Additionally, a full copy of the December 2022 Christmas Tree Fires research report from the NFPA can be found here.