Blames aquarium heater for fire that resulted in $1M in damages

By David Hanners
dhanners@pioneerpress.com

Posted: 02/21/2009 12:01:00 AM CST

The defendant: Petco, the big pet-store chain. The claim: A faulty Petco aquarium heater caused a fire at Medtronic’s Columbia Heights campus in 2007, resulting in more than $1 million in property damage and lost business.

Medtronic spokesman Chuck Grothaus said the company didn’t want to talk about the case filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

…Kalen Smith, a spokeswoman for San Diego-based Petco, said she was unaware of the suit and couldn’t comment on it. The chain has 950 stores in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has 15 stores in the Twin Cities area.

……In its suit, Medtronic claims the Petco aquarium heater caused a fire at the company’s facility at 800 53rd Ave. N.E. in Columbia Heights on May 20, 2007. The suit doesn’t say what kind of heater it was, how old it was or where it was bought — or whether it even was being used to heat an aquarium.

….The bulk of the damage, he said, was caused by water from the building’s sprinkler system, which ran several minutes before it was shut off.

“There were huge amounts of water,” the chief said. “This was on the second or third floor, and the water was running out the room, down the corridors, down the stairs, down the elevator shaft, and it was in the basement. We were in the basement and we were sloshing through water on the floor.

“We figure the sprinkler was probably running for 15 or 20 minutes before we got the call,” Gorman said. “The fire damage was very little.”

The fire department’s report lists it as an “electrical wiring/equipment” fire, and it doesn’t estimate the dollar value of damage. Medtronic’s lawsuit puts the damage at more than $1 million.

full story at LINK

Sooner or later an insurer is going to recognize the value of my power strip for reducing risk of sprinkler damage from smoking appliances.

By Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Updated Wednesday, February 18th 2009, 3:49 PM

Micelotta/Getty

A fire at actor Tracy Morgan’s apartment was started by a faulty bulb in a fish tank.

Tracy Morgan’s career isn’t the only thing on fire.

A faulty fish tank ignited a small blaze inside the “30 Rock” star’s luxurious Upper West Side home Wednesday morning, FDNY officials said.

The comedian was home at the time but was not injured when the light atop the giant fish tank appeared to spark the fire just after 8:30 a.m., officials said.

more at LINK

My power strip is designed to shut equipment off at the first sign of malfunctioning, before flames erupt such as this incident.

Fish Tank Causes House Fire

WHITE PLAINS - 1/1/2009
Maryland State Fire Marshalls were called to  investigate the cause of a house fire in White Plains on Dec. 30.

The fire broke out around 4:45 p.m., in the 9000 block of Billingsley Road. The owner of the single family home discovered the blaze in the laundry room.

Close to 40 firefighters from Waldorf, Bryans Road, La Plata and Potomac Heights helped to battle the blaze.

Investigation revealed that an overheated water pump to the fish tank was the cause of the fire. The fire caused minor damage to the laundry room before it was contained.

Damage to the home as a result of the fire rings in at $15,000.

LINK

My power strip can make aquarium setups safer. There’s a lot of appliances plugged in those setups and many of them can start smoldering. Better to have my power strip shut off whatever is smoking and sound a 95 dB alarm, especially to protect a business like this.

The front doorway of a restaurant and cafe in Valley Village caught fire this afternoon, but was quickly knocked down by the LA Fire Department in eight minutes after the first 911 call. Cafe Eilat, a kosher gourmet coffee shop and full bakery with sit down service, was already closed today in observance of the Sabbath.”The bulk of the business is untouched by fire, but (per protocol) Cafe Eilat will require clearance from the Health Department before it can again open for business,” explained LAFD Spokesman Brian Humphrey. He said an estimated dollar loss is still being tabulated.

An overheated aquarium motor near the seating area started the fire. Humphrey said the aquarium is believed to be a decorative item for ambiance rather than storage for kosher fish.

Cafe Eilat is located on the corner of Burbank Blvd. and Whitsett Ave. at 12519 Burbank Blvd.

LINK

I wonder why no smoke alarms sounded.  I bet it was a nice condo.  Using my power strip on that aquarium stand could have prevented this fire.  It would have shut off the pump and sounded an alarm loud enough to summon security. 

Sunday, November 16, 2008

There was water seeping out onto the patio of Mary Wallace’s third-floor unit in the Windmere condominium before fire fighters arrived Saturday night to battle a blaze.

That’s because the fire reported just before 9 p.m. resulted from the overheating of a motor used for a large aquarium. The motor caught fire, the aquarium melted and water went everywhere.

“It caused a lot of heat and smoke damage to the entire unit,” Lt. Nick Alvaro of the South Palm Beach police department, said of the fire. The building, at 4200 S. Ocean Blvd., was evacuated.

John Boot, a resident of the 18-unit condominium and also its manager, had noticed water dripping from the balcony and went to investigate. He opened the door with his master key after seeing just a hint of smoke at the entrance.

more at LINK

OCEANSIDE—-No people or animals were injured in a Friday fire at Petco, according an Oceanside Fire Department battalion chief.

The fire started about 1:15 p.m. in a cluster of electrical wires from fish tanks plugged into the wall of the pet supply store at 2445 Vista Way, Battalion Chief Rob Dunham said.

Customers and employees were taken outside, as were animals in cages and tanks, which included eight dogs, three cats, birds, reptiles, fish and rodents, while firefighters tackled the fire, Dunham said.

It took 27 firefighters from Carlsbad and Oceanside about 20 minutes to extinguish the fire that burned to the ceiling, Durham said. Building inspectors and investigators were on scene Friday afternoon to determine what the business needed to repair before it could reopen, Dunham said.

Damage was estimated at $5,000 to $10,000.

more at LINK

Glad it wasn’t worse.  I’ve blogged some pretty bad pet store fires.  My power strip would shut off the offending devices before smoke could do this much damage.

SAUGUS - Firefighters got a little help Wednesday when a fish tank doused a fire for them.

Fire Chief James Blanchard said firefighters responded to a call regarding smoke alarms going off at Beachview Avenue home and found a home filled with heavy smoke.

According to Blanchard, firefighters found a large fish tank inside.

“The motor on the fish tank had overheated and caught fire,” Blanchard said. “It had caught the wall, the floor and the rug on fire too.”

more at LINK 

QC furniture showroom hit by fire; P2.5M in property damaged
By Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:49:00 08/06/2008
MANILA, Philippines – Some P2.5 million worth of property was destroyed in a half-hour fire that broke out in the showroom of a furniture shop early Tuesday morning in Libis, Quezon City…..

more at LINK

Although the flames did little damage to the furniture at the showroom, the water ruined most of the items at the establishment, the owner, Rudy Tantoco, said.

Most of the furniture on display at the shop were priced from P20,000 and more.

Arson investigators of the QCFD said they were still trying to determine the cause of the fire. There were earlier reports that it was sparked by an aquarium water pump that had overheated.

Pomfret Fire Department responded to a small fire at Pomfret Community School Sunday morning, where thick black smoke hovered above several rooms, according to a press release issued by the department.

The cause of the fire was caused by the heater for a fish tank in the nurse’s office, the release said.

The fire was located in the nurse’s office and was quickly extinguished by Assistant Chief Ed Bates. The fire was contained to the one room due to the rapid response of the firefighters, the release said.

The nurse’s office sustained heavy smoke damage, while the damage to other rooms and the hallway nearby was moderate.

LINK 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — More than $10,000 worth of rare fish were killed when their tanks exploded during a fire at a pet store that has been in business for 28 years.

Hundreds of expensive fish were inside the building.

“I have 140 tanks of African Cichlids in there which are very valuable and hard to come by fish,” Daytona Aquarium owner Gary Johnson said.

damage to the building is estimated at $100,000.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

more at LINK

Tough story. I don’t know what caused this fire. My power strip can make aquarium setups safer. There’s a lot of appliances plugged in those setups and many of them can start smoldering. Better to have my power strip shut off whatever is smoking and sound a 95 dB alarm.