Capitol Proves Deadly for Christmas Tree
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It’s a Charlie Brown Christmas for Rhode Island’s official Christmas tree.
The 18-foot Colorado blue spruce lost its needles and died after Statehouse workers in Providence dried it with commercial fans and sprayed it with a fire-retardant chemical.
The workers were following a stringent fire code enacted after a nightclub blaze in Rhode Island about three years ago killed 100 people.
The state lifted a requirement Dec. 6 that Christmas trees in public buildings be doused with fire retardant, but that was too late for the Statehouse tree, which was put up Nov. 25.
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