It seems that Santas in Sweden are extremely flammable. Who knew?
STOCKHOLM (AFP) – "Ho ho ho!" may become "ouch ouch ouch!" for Santa Claus impersonators seeking to wing it with a fake beard, Swedish experts warned.
Sweden's national testing institute tested six models of beard on sale in the Scandinavian country and found that two of them turned into a raging inferno when coming into contact with a naked flame.
"We placed the beards on a peg in a laboratory. We placed a small flame underneath for two seconds to simulate a situation where Father Christmas gets too near to a candle or match," fire expert Per Thureson said in a statement.
On the bright side, people who keep a bit of a fire burning in their fireplace on Christmas Eve should get a lovely fireworks display.
UPDATE: Joe Gandelman has the latest on the Red-Suited menace to society. It ain't pretty.
And their point is what, exactly? I wouldn’t expect Santas-in-costume to be having their faces mere inches from open flame. Quick, somebody get me a job at this brain trust. Maybe they could extend their testing rigor and demonstrate the safety risks of notebook paper, charcoal, and feather boas. Whadda bunch of maroons.
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