is it a fire hazard for my neighbor to put her christmas tree against a steam heat in the hallway?

one of my neighbors likes to put her christmas tree up by the heater every christmas, its near the laundry room, and out in the hallway, its not a real tree but she puts it too close to a steam heater, i tried to get her to put it further away but she wouldnt, she wants everyone outside to see it. the last couple of yrs the heat wasnt even on there but this yr they changed it so they made knobs to turn the heat on and off , it was on 5 which is the highest, about 2 days ago i got fed up and went to the knob and turned the heat totally off, so far noone has even noticed it, guess it dont get cold there when its off. i was afraid of it starting a fire so i just turned it off, do you think i did the right thing?

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HootyTheNightOwl

Can you mention it to management and see what they think???

Even if the setting isn't directly a safety hazard because of bursting into flames, it might not be allowed to be there if it is a hazard to anyone trying to escape in the event of a fire.

pearllederman · 61-69, F

@HootyTheNightOwl you have a point, its right near a window too but i dont think management will do anything, hes already seen it and done nothing. its on the 3rd floor too so i dont think i could go out the window anyways unless a plane was there

HootyTheNightOwl

@pearllederman With windows, it's not about if you can use them to escape from.

To live, you need oxygen to breathe and our hypothetical fire is going to burn up a lot of the oxygen that you're currently breathing. You've said that the tree is artificial - so, when it burns in our fire, it's going to give off a lot of black smoke that will impact your ability to breathe, too.

You're going to have to break windows to get more oxygen in and allow the fire brigade some access to rescue you and any of your neighbours on your floor.

pearllederman · 61-69, F

@HootyTheNightOwl she just took the tree out last night so i turned the heat on

HootyTheNightOwl

@pearllederman That's good... I know most people will be taking their decorations down any time now.