Don't Pull a "Griswold": The Ultimate Guide to Holiday Electrical & Fire Safety

It’s the first week of December. The Thanksgiving leftovers are finally gone, the boxes are coming down from the attic, the ladder is out, and you are ready to transform your home into a winter wonderland. We all want that magical holiday glow. We want the house that stops traffic and makes the kids gasp in awe. But none of us want to end up like Clark Griswold—tripping breakers, dimming the neighborhood lights, or worse, sparking a fire.

While the movies make electrical mishaps look funny, the reality is much more serious. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), U.S. fire departments respond to an average of 770 home structure fires per year that begin with holiday decorations. Even more alarming, December is the peak month for electrical fires.

We tend to demand a lot from our home's electrical systems this month. We plug in heaters, string up thousands of lights, and run ovens for hours, often pushing older Utah homes far past their designed capacity.

At Apex Restoration, we want your holidays to be memorable for the joy, not for a visit from the fire department. Before you plug in that 50th strand of lights, take a moment to review this comprehensive safety guide. It will ensure your holidays stay bright—and your home stays standing.

1. The "Tinderbox" in the Living Room: Dry Christmas Trees

A real Christmas tree is a beautiful tradition. It smells like the mountains and looks amazing. But we need to be honest about what it is: a dead tree inside your house. If it dries out, it is essentially a large pile of gasoline-soaked kindling sitting in the middle of your living room.

The Utah Factor: In our dry high-desert climate, cut trees dry out incredibly fast. When you combine our low humidity with your furnace running 24/7, moisture is sucked out of the pine needles at a rapid rate.

• The Danger: A well-watered tree is very hard to ignite. A dry tree, however, can go from a single spark to fully engulfed in flames in less than 30 seconds. It burns so hot and fast that it can flash-over (ignite the entire room) in under a minute.

• The "Freshness" Test: Before you buy, do the "shake and touch" test.

  • Touch: Run your hand along a branch. The needles should be flexible, green, and stay on the branch. If they feel brittle, snap when you bend them, or turn into dust, walk away.

  • Shake: Bounce the tree on the ground. A few brown needles falling from the inside is normal, but if green needles rain down, the tree is already drying out.

• The Critical "Fresh Cut": When trees are harvested, sap seals over the cut trunk within a few hours to save moisture. This seal prevents the tree from drinking water. When you buy a tree, have the lot cut 2 inches off the trunk, or do it yourself immediately when you get home. You must get it into water within an hour of this fresh cut.

• The Watering Rule: A fresh tree is thirsty! It can drink up to a gallon of water a day for the first week. Check the stand daily. If the water level drops below the trunk, the sap will re-seal the cut, and the tree will stop drinking forever.

• Distance Matters: Keep the tree at least 3 feet away from any heat source. This includes fireplaces, radiators, heat vents, and candles. Heat dries the tree out faster and provides an ignition source.

2. The Extension Cord "Spaghetti"

We’ve all done it: You plug an extension cord into the wall, but it doesn't reach the tree. So, you plug another extension cord into that one. Then, you plug a power strip into the end to handle the lights.

This is called "daisy-chaining," and it is a major fire hazard.

• Why It's Dangerous: Extension cords are designed to carry a specific amount of electricity over a specific distance. When you link them together, you increase the electrical resistance. Resistance creates heat. The cords can overheat, melt their internal insulation, and spark a fire, even if the lights stay on.

• The Limit: Extension cords are for temporary use only. They are not designed to be permanent wiring.

• The "Touch Test": Do this tonight. While your lights have been on for an hour, go touch the extension cords and the plug at the wall. They should be cool. If a cord feels warm or hot to the touch, it is overloaded. It is actively melting its insulation. Unplug it immediately.

• Indoor vs. Outdoor: Never use indoor-rated cords outside.

  • Indoor cords (usually white or brown and thin) have light insulation that will crack in Utah’s freezing temperatures, exposing live wires to melting snow.

  • Outdoor cords (usually orange, yellow, or green and thick) have heavy-duty insulation designed to withstand UV rays, moisture, and cold.

• Don't Hide Them: Never run extension cords under rugs or carpets to hide them. People walk on them, damaging the wires inside. Worse, the rug traps the heat generated by the cord, preventing it from escaping. This heat buildup is a common cause of carpet fires.

3. Listen to Your Breakers: They Are Trying to Save You

If you turn on your holiday lights and the circuit breaker in your panel trips (pops off with a loud click), do not ignore it. It is trying to save your life.

• How a Breaker Works: A circuit breaker is a safety device designed to protect the wire inside your wall. If you pull too much power (amps) through a wire, the wire gets hot—like the element in a toaster. To prevent the wire from melting and starting a fire inside your wall, the breaker senses the heat and cuts the power.

• The Mistake: Many homeowners simply flip the breaker back on. If it trips again, they get frustrated and keep flipping it, or try to tape it open.

• The Reality: A tripped breaker is a warning shot. It means you have overloaded the circuit.

• The Fix: You cannot "fix" this by flipping the switch. You must reduce the load.

  • Unplug items: Move some of your lights to a different outlet on a different circuit. (Tip: Outlets in the kitchen and dining room are usually on heavy-duty circuits, while living room outlets share circuits with bedrooms).

  • Switch to LED: If you are still using old-school incandescent Christmas bulbs (the ones that get hot), switch to LED. You can string together 20+ strands of LEDs for the same power usage as 3 strands of old bulbs.

4. Space Heater Safety: The Guest Room Hazard

If you are setting up the guest room in the basement for visiting family, you might be adding a space heater to keep them cozy. While effective, space heaters are responsible for 43% of home heating fires.

• The "3-Foot Rule": This rule is non-negotiable. Keep the heater at least 3 feet away from anything that can burn. This includes bedding, curtains, rugs, piles of clothes, and furniture.

• The "Wall Only" Rule: This is the most common mistake we see. Never plug a space heater into an extension cord or a power strip.

  • Why? Space heaters pull a huge amount of power (high amperage). Extension cords and power strips are rarely built to handle this continuous high load. They will overheat and melt long before the space heater does.

  • The Rule: Always plug a space heater directly into the permanent wall outlet.

• Nighttime Safety: Always turn space heaters off when you leave the room or go to sleep. Look for modern heaters with tip-over protection (they shut off if knocked over) and automatic timers.

5. Decorating Without Damage

Finally, how you hang your lights matters just as much as how you plug them in.

• No Staples or Nails: Never use a staple gun or metal nails to hang light strands. It is far too easy to accidentally pierce the wire’s insulation. This creates a direct short circuit that can cause sparks or electrify your gutters. Use plastic clips instead.

• Check for Stowaways: Before you bring decorations down from the attic, inspect the boxes. Rodents love to chew on wire insulation for nesting material. Inspect every strand of lights for chew marks, exposed wires, or cracked sockets. If a strand is damaged, throw it out. It is not worth the risk to save $10.

Have a Safe and Bright Holiday

We want you to enjoy the lights, the tree, and the festivities. By respecting the power grid and following these simple rules, you ensure that your holiday remains a celebration, not an emergency.

However, accidents can happen even with the best preparation. If you do experience a fire, smoke damage, or water damage from a fire sprinkler this season, know that you aren't alone.

Apex Restoration is available 24/7/365—yes, even on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. Call us at (801) 513-1137 for immediate assistance.