Fireplace No Place for Dumping Tree : Safety: When discarding that once-glittering symbol of Christmas, let a recycling company turn it into chips.

Anyone faced with a leftover Christmas tree and a cold night might be tempted to toss the browning tree into the fireplace.

Don’t do it, Orange County fire officials warn.

“Christmas trees don’t burn, they explode,” said Assistant Fire Marshal Bob Honish of the Santa Ana Fire Department. “Because they are so dry, Christmas trees will burn completely in two or three seconds, producing large amounts of radiant heat,” enough to ignite the room.

Even the Orange County Fire Department will not be burning Christmas trees this year. After five years, the department’s annual Christmas tree bonfire was canceled by the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s decree that it generated too much pollution, according to Capt. Dan Young, a department spokesman.

Instead of burning them, fire officials say, Christmas trees should be taken down within a week after Christmas, cut in half and set out for trash pickup or recycled.

Because of environmental concerns, Christmas tree recycling programs have sprung up all over the county. Typically, the trees are ground into mulch at recycling centers and then either distributed to residents for use as compost or taken away by waste haulers.

At Lions Field in Fullerton, city workers put their tree-grinding machines to work Thursday, grinding up about 45 trees in only 10 minutes, said Juan Galindo of the city’s tree department. The trees, flocked or natural, needles branches and all, get sucked through the chippers in a matter of seconds, Galindo said.

“The machine can take trees one or two at a time and grind them up really quick,” Galindo said. “The chips will eventually wind up on bridle trails in the city.”

The tree chips will not wind up in landfills, said Mike Giancola, staff analyst for the county’s Integrated Waste Management Department.

“That’s exactly what we’re trying not to do,” Giancola said. “We’ll give back as much to residents as they want and then distribute the rest to Irvine Park, Laguna Niguel Regional Park and equestrian centers for horse trails.”

Even owners of Christmas tree lots, who normally “take the trees to disposal sites just like anyone else,” Young said, are offering them for recycling.

“They really didn’t have a whole lot of stock left,” Young said. As Christmas approaches, “rather than throw them out, they give them away or sell them for a dollar to families who otherwise wouldn’t have a tree,” he said.

One group interested in getting those mulched trees is the Western Power Group of Newport Beach. The chips can be burned and transformed into electrical energy, said Jeff Sprecher, a partner in the 7-year-old business.

Western Power Group hauls wood chips of various kinds to its garbage cogeneration plants in the Imperial Valley. The wood is burned to generate heat, which boils water and makes steam, which drives a turbine and makes electricity, which is sold to Southern California Edison Co., Sprecher explained.

The company has never tried Christmas trees as a fuel source, but Sprecher said he is always looking for a new source of wood materials, so the company will burn trees donated by Anaheim Disposal.

“We have no experience burning Christmas trees, but we think it will be a good fuel, so we’re giving it a try,” he said.

Most of the county’s recycling programs offer residents a chance to take the mulched chips home, providing they bring their own containers. And anyone with plans to simply toss the mulch into the garden should proceed with caution, soil experts say.

Christmas-tree chips make a fine ingredient for the soil, but only after mixing them with other soil amendments.

“The tree chips can rob the soil of its nitrogen,” said Kathy Kellogg, whose grandfather founded the Carson-based Kellogg’s Supply Co. 65 years ago. “Basically, it needs to be made into compost by adding nitrogen and turning periodically over the course of at least 90 days.”

CHRISTMAS TREE DISPOSAL

Better watch out when the garbage collector comes to pick the Yule tree off the curb this year. Every company has tree-size requirements and some are offering mulching services to those residents who wish to have their trees recycled.

Countywide, Christmas tree recycling is available at two sites from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 29, Dec. 30, Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. Residents can take trees to Irvine Regional Park, 21501 Chapman Ave., in Orange, or Laguna Niguel Regional Park, 28241 La Paz Road in Laguna Niguel.

Here are the recommended Christmas tree disposal procedures for each city:

Anaheim, Brea, Garden Grove, Placentia, Yorba Linda (Disposal Services Co.): Cut in half if six feet or taller; must be collected between Dec. 26 and Jan. 9.

Costa Mesa, Stanton (Orco Disposal Co.): Cut in half if six feet or taller; set alongside trash.

Costa Mesa (Residential Only) (Costa Mesa Disposal Co.): First Annual Christmas Tree Recycling Program--place tree on curb for pickup on Dec. 28 or Jan. 4. To have tree collected with regular garbage pickup, cut in half and set alongside trash.

Buena Park, La Palma (Park Disposal Co.): Cut in half if tree is taller than five feet.

Cypress, Rossmoor, Seal Beach (Briggeman Disposal Co.): Cut in half if taller than five feet.

Fullerton (M.G. Disposal Co.): Cut in half if taller than four feet.

Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Sunset Beach (Rainbow Disposal Co.): Cut in half if taller than six feet.

La Habra (Western Waste Co.): Cut in half if taller than four feet.

Los Alamitos, Villa Park (Briggeman Disposal Co.): Christmas tree recycling program offered on Jan. 3 and Jan. 10; place tree on curb for pickup. To have tree collected with regular garbage pickup, cut in half if taller than five feet.

Orange (Orange Disposal Co.): To recycle, take tree to Irvine Regional Park, 21501 Chapman Ave., in Orange, on Dec. 29-30 or Jan. 5-6 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (no flocked trees, please). There will be no curbside Christmas tree pickup.

Newport Beach (City of Newport Beach): Cut in four-foot lengths.

Irvine, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, El Toro, part of Laguna Hills, the canyons, Rancho Margarita (Dewey’s Disposal Service): Cut in half if taller than five feet; long branches must be bundled and tied.

Dana Point, Capistrano Beach, part of Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano, part of South Laguna (Solag Disposal Co.): To recycle, take tree to Laguna Niguel Regional Park, 28241 La Paz Road in Laguna Niguel, on Dec. 29-30 or Jan. 5-6, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (no flocked trees, please); there will be no curbside Christmas tree pickup.

Santa Ana, Tustin (Great Western Reclamation Co.): Cut in half if taller than five feet.

In San Juan Capistrano, the city will accept Christmas trees dropped off in dumpsters that will be in the City Hall parking lot from 8 a.m. today to 3 p.m. Saturday and from 8 a.m. Jan. 4 to 3 p.m. Jan. 5. City Hall is at 32400 Paseo Adelanto.

San Clemente (San Clemente Commercial): Cut in half if taller than four feet.

Westminster (Midway City Sanitation): Cut in four-foot lengths.

Source: Individual refuse companies vl,1 --Researched by: APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times