Hi

we had a really close shave this Christmas with one of the candles in the living room starting a small fire. The moss covering the crib Christmas display caught fire, as the candle next to it got smaller and smaller. We managed to extinguish it with a glass of mulled wine (the smoke alarm had luckily gone off), so we were very lucky. We have a powder extinguisher in the house but the thought of using it on this fire is scary. I had to use a powder extinguisher on my car once! Not sure what is worse, the fire or the mess a powder extinguisher makes. This made me think: would a powder extinguisher be any good on a Christmas tree fire? What would everybody recommend?

Garry

It depends on which type of powder is in the extinguisher as to if it would be suitable or not. (Each extinguisher has markings to show what category of fire it can be used on)

The Christmas tree would come under the category of class A, some powder extinguishers are only suitable for class B and C (not class A) so an extinguisher for class B and C will not work on a class A fire. (Class B and C only extinguishers are ideal for vehicle engine fires, but not textiles, paper etc)

Powder extinguishers do leave a residue and can temporarily reduce visibility in a confined space, for that reason I would suggest a 2 litre foam extinguisher which you can buy from Safelincs for home use.

Hi Garry

I would also recommend the dry water mist extinguishers. We recently did a video with a Christmas tree that show this fairly new type of extinguisher in action

Harry

Hello.
Can you please tell me if an indoor artificial christmas tree (for private use at home) has to contain a fire retardant?

If this is not your area of expertise do you know of the governing body in the UK who I could contact?

Many thanks
Hayley

This is the trading standards area of expertise but I am not aware of any regulations that require this. Check out https://www.tradingstandards.uk/consumers/support-advice.