The dog days of July were iced by a frosty wonderland in Coquitlam this week thanks to a Hollywood film shoot.

A Christmas tree farm thickly coated with biodegradable artificial snow was erected in Mundy Park for Deck the Halls, starring actors Danny Devito and Matthew Broderick.

The film is about two neighbours - Broderick’s character is a highly organized neat freak while Devito’s is the opposite - who habitually compete over the silliest things, and lock horns to create the perfect Christmas yard display.

Coquitlam city film office liaison Mariette Pilon said the scene shot in Mundy Park yesterday involves a comical conflict ending in a Christmas tree fire.

Coquitlam Fire/Rescue was on site to ensure safety.

"The trees are specially treated and there is no danger but the fire department is there just in case and to reassure residents," Pilon said.

"For this scene, Matthew Broderick’s character has bought a fenced-in area of the tree lot for his five, perfect, decreasingly smaller Christmas trees," Pilon said. "Danny Devito’s character arrives with his poorly maintained chain-saw and sees the fenced-in area, and says, ‘Oh, I’ve found the perfect tree.’"

Pilon said about 50 trees were imported for the shoot and Maria Egerton of Keystone Environmental Ltd. was hired by the film’s producers to monitor the Mundy Park shoot.

"The [artificial snow] is pure cellulose, which is totally biodegradable and safe to ingest," Egerton said. "It is visible and does blow around, and we’ve covered all the streams and waterways in the park and put down snow blankets to collect it."

Egerton said most of the snow will be cleaned with fire hoses after the shoot and any specks of remaining snow will degrade with the sun and wind within days.

"We are there to make sure we leave the park like we found it," Egerton said.

The set was prepared from July 10 to 17, shooting took place yesterday, and clean-up will finish by July 25.

Deck the Halls is scheduled to open in theatres in November.