December 22, 2005

Oops...

Rhode Island is having problems with their Christmas Tree -- it's dead Jim! From Pittsburgh, PA WPXI comes this story:
New Fire Code Mistakenly Kills R.I. Christmas Tree
Rhode Island's official Christmas tree is dead.

Statehouse workers unwittingly killed the 18-foot Colorado blue spruce by drying it with commercial fans and spraying it with a fire-retardant chemical.

The workers mistakenly thought they were following a stringent new fire code that was enacted after a nightclub blaze in West Warwick killed 100 people two years ago. But it turned out that the requirement to douse Christmas trees in public buildings with fire retardant was lifted earlier this month.

Growers are rushing to get a replacement tree for the statehouse. A spokesman for Gov. Donald Carcieri said, "This one will not be sprayed."

The governor is suggesting the state might get an artificial replacement next year.
RI-tree-01.jpg
The fire was the Whitesnake fireworks display at Rhode Island nightclub "The Station" in February of 2003. An article is available at the Providence Journal. Use Bug Me Not for a username and password. Posted by DaveH at December 22, 2005 9:47 PM
Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?