Don’t let 2023 get off to a fiery start
5.1.2023
Translation: Katherine Martin
Fancy lighting the candles on your Christmas tree or Advent wreath for one last time? Watch out: one careless moment can turn tranquil candlelight into a blazing inferno.
Fancy lighting the candles on your Christmas tree or Advent wreath for one last time? Watch out: one careless moment can turn tranquil candlelight into a blazing inferno.
«Crap, the wreath is on fire!», I hear my wife shout as I’m preparing dinner in the kitchen. I’m already able to hear the crackle of the flames before hurrying into the living room. There’s not much time to think things through. I grab the metal plate serving as a base for the Advent wreath and take it outside as quickly as possible. Once I’m outdoors, I manage to blow out the still minor fire.
Not everyone’s as lucky. On New Year’s Eve in Köniz, Bern, for example, a total of three people were injured – two of them seriously – in a Christmas tree fire (article in German). According to accident insurance provider Suva, candles cause up to 70 fires a week in Switzerland during the Christmas season. That’s five times as many fires as the rest of the year.
Wax fires shouldn’t be extinguished with water
Admittedly, we were pushing our luck. It’s a well-known fact that you shouldn’t light candles on a dry Advent wreath or Christmas tree. At least I managed to keep a cool head while I was doing damage control and didn’t try to put out the fire with water. This is because, at high temperatures, the water evaporates, drawing in small drops of wax. These then immediately turn to gas, which can result in a huge flash fire.
For the same reason, you should never use water to put out an oil or grease fire either. You might think this is common knowledge. An incident that took place in Germany last week, however, revealed this not to be the case. A man sustained severe burn injuries (link in German) when the oil from his beef fondue caught fire and he tried to put it out with water.
So what should you do when wax or oil catches fire? Smaller fires can be smothered using a fire blanket. However, these aren’t up for the job when it comes to larger blazes. For these types of fires, you’ll need a fire blanket, writes the Beratungsstelle für Brandverhütung (Fire Prevention Advisory Board.
This week, we’d actually wanted to light the candles on our Christmas tree one last time, ending the festive season on a tranquil note. But firstly, our Christmas tree dried out unusually quickly this year and the branches are already looking droopy. And secondly, we don’t have a fire extinguisher or fire blanket at home. This considered, we won’t bother – one charred Advent wreath is enough for us.
Title photo: Keystone/Caro Schwarz
Martin Rupf
Senior Editor
martin.rupf@digitecgalaxus.chHalf-Danish dad of two and third child of the family, mushroom picker, angler, dedicated public viewer and world champion of putting my foot in it.
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