Preventable Fire Stories

more at LINK

The cause of the Triple H Gun Club and The Grill on the Hill fire last week has been ruled accidental.

According to Linton Fire Department Chief Gary Tannehill, the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s office has determined that a golf cart battery — possibly a charger — is what started the blaze that destroyed the building, owned by John and Ronda Hert.

“(Inspector Greg Gourlard) came down the morning of the fire … he came down while we were still there,” Tannehill said Tuesday afternoon. “We were still on the scene, and he did what he needed to do while we were still there. Then he went back to our station and got what else he needed.”

LINK

A fire at the Super Bi-Lo in Northeast Richland’s Village at Sandhill shut the store down for about four hours Saturday.

The fire, which was contained to a corner of the stock room, has been ruled accidental, said Columbia Deputy Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins. He said it started from the heat caused by a floor buffer charger that was plugged into an extension cord.

The fire caused $185,000 worth of damage, mainly to food items and equipment in the stock room, Jenkins said.

You’d figure insurers would catch on that $185K in damages could have been avoided if they’d had that rechargeable floor buffer plugged into my power strip.

May 18th, 2009 •

About 70,000 lithium-ion batteries used in Compaq and HP notebook computers were recalled last week by Hewlett-Packard Co., as they could overheat and potentially catch on fire.

The HP laptop battery recall was issued after at least two incidents were reported where the computer batteries ruptured and caused flames to ignite. The fires did not result in any personal injuries, but property damage was reported.

…. more at LINK

Owners of HP Pavilion, Compaq Presario, HP and HP Compaq laptops have been urged to check their battery and remove any defective batteries that have been recalled. A free replacement battery can be obtained by contacting HP at (800) 889-2031 or visiting www.hp.com/support/BatteryReplacement.

My SmokeShutoff  power strip would add a measure of safety for when you must leave the laptop plugged in.

Published Date: 14 March 2009

A model aeroplane enthusiast’s hobby sparked a fire at his home in Walton-le-Dale.

A faulty battery charger used for the planes short-circuited and started a blaze at the man’s bungalow in Marlborough Drive at 6.15pm on Saturday.

Firecrews from Bamber Bridge tackled the blaze, which ruined nine model planes and left a bedroom badly damaged.

full story at LINK

JOHN HARRINGTON - Independent Record - 03/15/09

Firefighters from Birdseye Volunteer Fire Department and several other departments responded in the pre-dawn hours Saturday morning to a blaze on Gumprecht Road that claimed a garage as well as the 1981 Porsche that was parked in it.

…

“His smoke detector worked, it woke him up and he called 911,” Reinier said.

….

Reinier said the cause of the fire was believed to be a battery charger that was plugged into the German sports car.

more at LINK

Fire investigation and arson task force manager Bryn Strudwick said the fire was caused by a mobile phone which was left charging on a sofa.

Mr Strudwick said: “Any type of charger for any electrical items should be left on a hard surface. It is like a lightbulb - harmless until you put a coat over it.

full story at LINK

Neighbors help put out garage fire

March 20th, 2009 @ 7:36am

By Randall Jeppesen

SOUTH JORDAN — Neighbors connected their garden hoses to help put out a garage fire in South Jordan.

Brett Larson says his daughter first noticed smoke coming from the garage of a home across the street near 3300 West and 10600 South around 9 p.m. Thursday.

…. full story at LINK
The flames never reached the house, only damaged the garage. A malfunctioning battery charger may have caused the fire.

Fire destroys shop building
Firefighters could see a plume of black smoke from five miles away on Thursday as they rushed to a shop fire at 11011 N.E. 279th St. in Battle Ground.

A woman who lives there looked outside her home, saw smoke in the shop and called 911 about 11:15 a.m., said Battalion Chief Jim Langborg with Clark County Fire & Rescue.

Looking closer, she saw the smoke was coming from a motor home in the shop, which was getting its battery charged.

When firefighters arrived several minutes later, the shop and its contents were in flames. They poured water into the shop from outside, and prevented flames from seriously damaging a nearby shed, Langborg said.

The shop, motor home, a boat and a Bobcat machine were destroyed, with damage initially estimated at $50,000 or more.

The cause is under investigation. The fire may have originated with the battery charger, Langborg said.

LINK

Just hang my power strip above the charger and battery.  Good chance it would shut off the charger at the first sign of trouble.

I found this on the web. These guys (LINK to their writeup) apparently abused the battery pretty well before this demonstration, but you know your kid would do the same and try charging the battery in his room.

Shows how dangerous battery overcharging can be.  Optimally you’d want my power strip directly over the battery at the charging station so that smoke would cause the power strip to emit a 90dB alarm and shut off power to the charger.

The London Hunt Club was evacuated just before 2 p.m. after fire broke out in its boiler room, forcing out dozens of club members and sparking concerns over a chemical spill.

“There was heavy smoke damage throughout the first and second floors,” said Michael Black, a platoon chief with the city fire department, estimating the cleanup could cost upwards of $20,000.

A battery-operated, industrial floor-cleaning machine was being charged when the charger malfunctioned, starting the blaze. The machine, worth about $5,000, was destroyed.

more at LINK

My power strip would make these unattended charging setups safer.