Recycle your natural Christmas tree
Home hazard
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Now that Christmas is over, it's time to trim your tree so that you can dispose of it properly before it becomes a home hazard, a fire department spokesman said.
The L.A. City Fire Department urges you to remove and recycle your natural Christmas tree as soon as possible, said the department's Brian Humphrey.
If you have a green yard waste bin, you can remove the stand, ornaments, decorations and tinsel, cut the tree into pieces and put the pieces in the bin before your trash collection day, Humphrey said.
If you don't have a green waste bin, there are 20 drop-off sites accepting trees one day only. It's Sunday, January 2, 2011, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To get the location of a site near you, call 3-1-1 or visit
lacitysan.org/tree-recycle.htm.
Humphrey noted it's been four years since the last fatal fire involving a Christmas tree in Los Angeles. That can change quickly, he added. In less than 30 seconds a small fire in a holiday tree can become an inferno, Humphrey said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Fire Department officials today urged Angelenos to recycle their live Christmas trees in order to boost recycling and reduce fire hazards.
The mayor and Fire Chief Brian Cummings demonstrated how to recycle the trees properly this morning at a fire station in the Cypress Park neighborhood.
Newly minted Assistant Chief Kwame Cooper had much to smile about at his 8 a.m. badge ceremony on Dec. 1 in the Fire Commission Room in City Hall East. He was making history of sorts, as one of three current assistant chiefs and only the seventh Black fireman so honored in the Los Angeles Fire Department.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Burning gift wrap and other highly flammable holiday trash in residential fireplaces is dangerous and it can be deadly, the Los Angeles Fire Department warned residents today.
Most fireplaces are designed to use natural gas or dry firewood to support small, decorative fires that enhance ambience, Brian Humphrey of the LAFD said.
Memorial services will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27, for Paul A. Orduna, the Los Angeles City Fire Department’s first African American assistant fire chief. Orduna died on Oct. 5 at the age of 85. The services will beheld at the African American Firefighter’s Museum located at 1401 Central Ave. at 1 p.m.
Orduna served in the U.S. Air Force for two years where he received specialized training as a diesel mechanic. He was stationed in the Philippines for nine months and received an honorable discharge from the Air Force in 1946.
LANCASTER, Calif.—Sheriff's deputies confirmed that firefighters found the body of a woman inside a two-story home in the Quartz Hill section of Lancaster after a fire brought under control.
The fire was reported at 5:15 p.m. Sunday in the 42000 block of 56th Street West, Supervisor Michael Pittman of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
The blaze was under control by 5:26 p.m.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, said the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.
