The Calgary Fire Department is reminding citizens that only wood should be burned in fireplaces. The message comes after a man triggered his apartment building's alarm system when he lit a fake Christmas tree on fire and then fell asleep.

The fire department responded to an apartment building on Southampton Drive S.W. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, after a 911 call came in from the building's alarm company.

Crews found smoke coming out of a fireplace on a third-floor apartment, where they quickly put out the fire. EMS assessed a man in his 40s but he wasn't taken to hospital.

The attempt to burn the fake tree had created an excessive amount of smoke and heat, which activated the buildings fire safety system — there were no smoke alarms within the suite itself.

The fire department said it's important to have working smoke alarms on every level of a home, and both inside and outside of bedrooms, as well as working carbon monoxide detectors.