Nothing can ruin your holiday celebrations like a house fire, but unfortunately they can be common at this time of year.

However, Perry Volunteer Fire Chief Chris Hinds says there are ways to help prevent fires during the holiday season, and it all starts with the tree. With real trees, he says it’s a good idea to make sure the one you buy isn’t too dry when you pick it out. Once you get it home, he advises you to cut the bottom tip off the tree before putting it on your stand, as a fresh cut makes it easier for the tree to absorb the water. Keeping the trees watered is also very important, particularly if you have older lights that can heat up and ignite on dry needles. When plugging in the lights and other decorations, Hinds reminds you to never overload outlets, as that’s how many house fires are started. Finally, he says you should never have an open flame or heater anywhere near a Christmas tree, whether it’s real or artificial.

Hinds emphasizes even if you take all of these precautions, fire can still happen. Because of that, he reminds you to make sure everyone in your household knows what to do in case of fire. “Be sure and have your exit drills gone over with the family, so that if you do have a problem in the wintertime everybody knows where they’re going, what they’re doing, and it all happens in a quiet, calm, orderly fashion. You get out of the house, you get to your meeting place, you remain safe. Because that is the number one thing year round, is to be safe. Anything that you have can be replaced. Material things are material things, but lives are hard to come by. So you need to be safe.”

To learn more about fire safety, listen to this Monday’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.