I have had mine infront of our hot water baseboard heaters every christmas for years no problem just make sure there is air moving all around it

Ok, thank you! We are going to be checking the water a lot to make sure it has enough to drink. This makes me feel much better. Everywhere I read it said not to put it by any heat source as it can cause a fire. Even a forced air heat vent (but I thought that was a little ridiculous!)

would guess that the increased fire risk is because the dry is more likely to dry out and thus easier to catch fire.

Local TV News stations doing pieces on the high fire risk with artificial trees.

We’ve been doing this for almost 20 years, as long as the tree has a little room and isn’t directly on the baseboard it will be fine. Like everyone else said though keep it well watered.

I cut off all the branches that were hitting the actual baseboard since I figured that wouldn't be good for the tree, or the air flow. So it seems like just as long as we keep it well watered we should be good!

The hot water baseboard doesn't get hot enough to ignite even the driest tree.

Is this cast iron radiators or fin-tube convectors? Either way, if you want to lessen the drying of the tree, you could close the convectors if there are doors on them, or cover either type with aluminum foil to reduce heat output. I am not saying that I see an acute problem, just faster drying of the tree than if it was not on top of the emitters.

Remember, traditionally trees were decorated on Christmas eve and left up until Epiphany. Nice looking tree. Have a merry Christmas around it!

"Remember, traditionally trees were decorated on Christmas eve and left up until Epiphany."

Was that with baseboard or hot air heat?

LOL, both or neither (before central heat). The point being that they were not up for long (minutes to hours) before the candles on them were lit and were not up for long total time.

Twelve days...

No, it's not a fire hazard in the sense that the baseboard will cause it to ignite. I've got hot water heat with baseboard and had my tree in a corner (baseboard on two sides) for 40 years. Some of that time was even with C7 bulb sets that are a lot hotter than what is available today.

That said, do some common sense things:

1. Keep it well watered and check the water level at least twice a day. They drink a lot, especially at first. If the water level ever drops below the bottom of the trunk for even a short time, the cut is sealed and the tree won't drink anymore.

2. Check the tree to make sure the branches are still supple. If they are stiff, time to toss it.

3. Only turn the tree on when you are nearby and awake. I don't mean you have to hover over the thing but it's ridiculous how some people leave a tree on when they go to sleep or leave the house. A few years back, a large mansion in Maryland was burned completely to the ground and all inside perished because of an electrical failure in the Christmas tree that was left on 24/7. The tree ignited at night when everyone was asleep.

4. Don't use any plug-in additions to the light string. What I mean are accessories where you remove a bulb from the string and plug the accessory into the socket. I don't know if they are still available, but were popular years ago - like bird chirppers or that play music, large ornaments with moving figures, etc.

Keep it watered, turn the light off when not home.......relax. If it looks like hell after xmas day.....take it down : )

The day before you take it down gather everybody around the tree and crank up this tune....

Merry Christmas.