ELEANOR, W.Va. — It’s always important to water your live Christmas tree as it can potentially pose a major fire hazard if left forgotten.
The Emergency and Firefighting Management Services Class at Putnam Career and Technical Center came together with fire and rescue squads from Buffalo, Hurricane and Eleanor Thursday afternoon for a live Christmas tree burn safety demonstration to show just how crucial watering a live tree truly is.
Firefighters assisted the students in the emergency management class as they went up against the flames of the mock-up home after lighting the trees on fire.
Austin West, a senior at Putnam Career Center, said while he already has real-life experience in battling blazes being a volunteer firefighter in Poca as well, he always enjoys this demo.
“I really enjoy doing it and helping the community out, and I thought this was a great demonstration to show what to do in taking care of your Christmas tree,” said West. 
The demo showed the difference between how much faster a Christmas tree that’s not properly being taken care of burns versus one that has been better cared for.
Live Burn Public Information Officer and Volunteer Firefighter for Hurricane Fire and Rescue Jamie Bero said proper Christmas tree care does not just include making sure it stays watered, but also ensuring that it’s kept away from radiators and heaters, making sure there’s no lit candles on or near the branches, and not overloading extension cords to connect the lights.
She added that, of course though, always double check to make sure that it’s getting the proper amount of water.
“Even if you’ve watered it but see that the bowl is empty, it could be a dog or a cat or a puppy or something that went in and just drank the water, or the tree just needed that much water, so really just making sure your tree is adequately watered will help prevent a fire,” she said.
In one mock-up living room during Thursday’s demonstration was a tree that had been well cared for and watered, and when the fire started, all it took was one person coming in with a fire extinguisher to put it out.
However, in the adjacent unit was the tree that hadn’t been properly cared for or watered. That one completely burned up the unit when it was ignited and took a whole team of people to put out the blaze with hoses.
Bero said the demonstration is also a good hands-on educational tool for the students who have a drive to go into the fire service to know what to do.
“They get the hands-on portion of it, the captain already went around and made a couple of corrections to people who maybe weren’t close enough to the fire,” said Bero. “Of course, if it’s a real fire you wouldn’t sit there and wait for it to be fully involved, but he just gives some pointers on what to do, they get to make sure they’re fully dressed and really protected.”
West said he knows first-hand how real a situation like this can actually be through his time volunteering in the fire service already.
“We actually did have a fire on Christmas Eve last year, it’s because they didn’t take care of their tree and they lost their house, it was very sad,” he said.
West said why it’s important for students to get this first-hand experience.
“To know what to expect, because you never know what you’re going to see.”