Now is the time to get your live Christmas tree out of your home, Phoenix Fire Dept. says

PHOENIX - Christmas has come and gone, and now it's time to get the live Christmas trees out of your home, according to the Phoenix Fire Department. As the days go on, those trees become more dry and dangerous.

"As you saw, less than five seconds once that tree ignited, and within 30 seconds, that entire room was engulfed in flames," Capt. Todd Keller said. "You have to remember that a fire doubles every 30 seconds, so within a matter of minutes, you can have a fully involved house fire."

When those trees are by things like cigarettes and appliances, it's even more dangerous – it only takes one second to spark.

"As you saw, our Christmas tree was within a couple feet of a space heater, and it ignited really quickly," said Keller.

Christmas tree fire dangers

It's that time of year when people will be un-decking the halls and taking down the Christmas trees. FOX 10's Danielle Miller explains how trees can be recycled and why it's important to not keep a live tree up for a long time.

So the best thing to do is get it out of the home and to one of the 16 recycling drop-off centers in the city of Phoenix – this will allow your tree to live on, rather than going to a landfill.

"They come here to the compost floor, and they go into the chipper that finely chips it and grinds it, and within 45-60 days, it becomes compost and the compost essentially becomes a nutrient to soil," said Veridiana Cervantes, zero waste analyst with the city of Phoenix.

The city will use that mulch for public parks, and it will be available for residents.

City of Phoenix Christmas tree composting
https://www.phoenix.gov/publicworks/christmastrees