The holiday season brings warmth, celebration, and a welcome change of scenery into healthcare facilities and other high-traffic buildings. Seasonal décor, special events, and increased foot traffic can boost morale and create a festive atmosphere. However, they also introduce temporary changes which can unintentionally compromise the effectiveness of critical fire and life safety systems.
In healthcare environments and other commercial spaces requiring strict code compliance, these changes may create risk for occupants who are unfamiliar with their surroundings. Even small deficiencies impacting life safety infrastructure can result in serious consequences.
At National Firestopping Solutions, we routinely identify life safety deficiencies which emerge during the holidays, not due to negligence, but because life safety features are unknowingly impacted through decorating, vendor access, and seasonal impacts.
The importance of life safety does not pause during the holidays. Below are the most common holiday-related fire safety issues we see in healthcare facilities and new commercial buildings, and how to prevent them.
1. Blocking Fire Doors and Paths of Egress in Healthcare and Commercial Occupancies
Fire doors play a critical role in healthcare and commercial buildings by compartmentalizing fire and smoke, protecting paths of egress in patient care areas, and allowing occupants to safely egress into adjacent zones.
The mistake:
Wreaths, garland, signage, or other decorations are frequently attached to fire doors or placed in a way that interferes with closing and latching. In healthcare settings, doors may also be propped open to accommodate carts, equipment movement, or increased visitor traffic.
Why it matters:
In hospitals, clinics, and ambulatory care facilities, fire doors protect occupants who may not be able to self-evacuate. In new commercial buildings, these doors are part of a carefully engineered life safety design. A fire door that cannot close and latch is no longer performing its tested function, allowing smoke and fire to spread rapidly into egress paths and adjacent compartments. While this clearly places building occupants at risk, it also places first responders, including firefighters, at risk.
How to avoid it:
- Keep fire doors free of decorations, wedges, and unauthorized hold-open devices
- Use only hold-open devices approved by facilities and safety leaders which are tied into the fire alarm system
- Verify regularly that doors are free of decorations, self-close, and latch properly. This practice should be built into the facility’s preventive maintenance (PM) program and carefully documented. If the organization utilizes a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), this should be included as a PM.
- Include fire doors in routine environment of care or life safety inspections during the holiday season, further addressing the risk that other building occupants may unknowingly create through decorating.
In highly regulated occupancies such as hospitals, even a few inches of obstruction can make the difference between containment and rapid smoke migration.
2. Improper Use of Temporary Power and Extension Cords
Seasonal lighting and displays often rely on temporary power, especially in lobbies, waiting areas, retail spaces, and newly occupied buildings still completing punch-list or tenant fit-up work.
The mistake:
Extension cords are often daisy-chained, overloaded, or routed through doorways, ceilings, or rated walls. Office-grade power strips are used for decorative lighting or equipment, drawing more current than they are designed to handle.
Why it matters:
Electrical non-compliance is a leading cause of fire in both healthcare and commercial occupancies. In newer buildings, concealed spaces above ceilings and within walls can allow fire to spread undetected. Overloaded or damaged cords generate heat and can fail without warning, especially when used beyond their intended purpose and design parameters.
How to avoid it:
- Use UL listed extension cords only for short-term, temporary applications
- Never route cords through walls, ceilings, or fire-rated assemblies
- Ensure all cords and power strips are properly rated for the electrical load
- Coordinate with facilities or electrical teams for approved power solutions
- Remove temporary wiring immediately after the holiday season
Temporary power should never replace permanent, code-compliant electrical systems, regardless of how many times you are called a ‘Scrooge’ by the team responsible for decorating.
3. Compromising Fire-Rated Assemblies During Decoration Installation
Fire-rated walls, floors, and ceilings are especially critical in healthcare facilities and modern commercial buildings where compartmentation is an integral component of the life safety infrastructure and strategy.
The mistake:
Decorations are installed by drilling into walls or ceilings; ceiling tiles are displaced to run cords or hang decorations; or items are mounted above ceilings without approval. These actions often result in unsealed penetrations or damaged fire-rated assemblies.
Why it matters:
Fire-rated assemblies are tested as complete systems. Even small, unprotected openings can allow smoke and heat to bypass rated barriers, undermining defend-in-place strategies which are required in healthcare environments. These deficiencies only accelerate the spread of smoke and fire, regardless of the type of occupancy.
How to avoid it:
- Avoid penetrating fire-rated walls, floors, or ceilings for temporary decorations
- Never remove or displace ceiling tiles without proper authorization
- Prohibit installations above ceilings unless reviewed and approved by facilities leaders
- Inspect rated assemblies after decorations are installed—and again after removal
- Repair any compromised barriers immediately using tested and listed systems
- Fire and smoke do not need large openings to have devastating effects, only unprotected ones.
4. Real Trees, Real Risk: Don’t Let Them Dry Out
Nothing says “holidays” like the scent of a real tree, but when trees dry out, they can become one of the fastest-burning fuel sources in a building.
The mistake:
Live trees are installed and decorated, but watering is forgotten or inconsistent, allowing the tree to dry out over time.
Why it matters:
A well-watered tree is far less likely to ignite. A dry tree, however, can catch fire extremely quickly and spread flames rapidly, often before occupants have time to react. In healthcare and commercial settings, this level of risk is completely unacceptable.
How to avoid it:
- Ensure live trees are watered daily and monitored regularly
- Remove trees promptly if needles begin to dry, brown, or shed
- Keep trees clear of heat sources, lighting, and electrical equipment
- Follow all facility policies and code requirements for live vegetation
- Holiday cheer should sparkle—not ignite.
- Holiday Awareness, Year-Round Compliance
Holiday decorations are temporary. The importance of life safety should never be.
Healthcare facilities and new commercial buildings rely on several types of life safety infrastructure. While alarms and sprinklers activate after a fire has already begun, passive fire protection systems, fire doors, fire-rated assemblies, and firestopping, are what slow the passage of fire and smoke, while also protecting occupants and first responders when seconds can make the difference between life and death.
The holiday season is the perfect time to remind staff, contractors, and vendors that life safety features must remain intact, functional, and code-compliant at all times.
At National Firestopping Solutions, we help customers identify hidden risks, restore compromised fire-rated assemblies, and maintain compliance throughout the year, not only during inspections.
Fire prevention isn’t about limiting celebrations or joy.
It’s about making sure every celebration, every shift, and every day ends safely.
Preserving human life and preventing catastrophic loss are our ultimate goals. We want every single person who enters your facilities to return home in the same or better condition than when they arrive.