Preventable Fire Stories

Firefighters said Thursday that nine cats died in Wednesday’s Parkside house fire in addition to 25 birds and two dogs.
…
 
Firefighters extinguished the fire moments later, but the home sustained smoke damage throughout, said Vancouver Fire Department Capt. Bill Garlington.
 
The owner, xxx xxx, had just left the home. She left a heating pad on beneath a bird cage for two sick chicks, and the pad overheated and ignited, Garlington said.

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I really think my power strip could make those heating pads safer, cutting them off at the first sign of smoke.

… a two-story home in rural west Morgan Hill burned to the ground.

… CalFire battalion chief Ken McGeever. ..

(resident) suspected a malfunction with his electric blanket or an electric heating pad in his bedroom started the fire, which he said started while he was on the phone with his daughter.

…
McGeever agreed the fire appeared to have started in the bedroom, as that area showed the most damage.

Crews from Cal Fire, Santa Clara County Fire Dept., and Gilroy FD responded to the fire, which was still smoldering in the early afternoon

LINK

Proves even though heating mats are safer than heat lamps, they do pose risks too.  My power strip can make them safer.
A COUPLE out celebrating New Years Eve were in for a shock when emergency services called them from inside their home to tell them it had been on fire.

… The fire started after a mat underneath Kermit’s tank, used to keep it warm, overheated.

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Wichita firefighters are reminding people about dangers associated with heating pads. A fire at a Rock Road apartment yesterday is the third fire in Wichita this year caused by heating pads left on.

The fire yesterday in the 500 block of North Rock Road started when a heating pad on a bed caught fire. The fire caused $18,000 in damage.

A Wichita woman, xxxxx xxxxxxx, was killed Monday in a fire started by a heating pad left on a chair.

LINK

Even if the smoke alarms in her apartment sounded, there’s a chance the fumes had knocked her out so she couldn’t react.  My power strip might save lives by turning off the heating pad (or whatever else is smoldering), sounding the alarm, and maybe the smoke clears instead of a fire igniting.

She’d gone to sleep with a heating pad to ease a sore back from playing lacrosse. But the pad overheated and caught fire. As she slept, the fire spread to a nightstand and lamp.

ays.

According to the Asbury Park Press, the fire was reported at 3:56a, and it took 50 firefighters from Little Silver, Red Bank, Oceanport and Shrewsbury half an hour to put it out.

Though the blaze was limited to Grace’s bedroom, the second floor of the family’s Cape Cod on Rumson Place in Little Silver was extensively damaged by smoke and water.

LINK

The manual for these heating pads say don’t fall asleep with them on, but everybody does. My power strip might have shut it off at the first sign of smoldering. Hard to say, depending on placement of the power strip, if it would have prevented the damage or flames from erupting — either way, it is worth an added level of safety.

Flames shoot from the roof of a house on Dunlop Avenue in the Town of Tonawanda.

“They’re looking into the fact that there may have been an electrical heating pad or an electric blanket that may have contributed to it,” Bado said.
…

Lieutenant Nick Bado with Town of Tonawanda Police.

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A heating pad and a heat lamp left plugged in to warm a family dog caused a house fire in South Salem early Monday morning, officials said.

The two-alarm fire was reported about 1:50 a.m. in the 4100 block of Riverdale Road S, said Salem Fire spokesman Bill Holmstrom. A second alarm was called at 2:02 a.m. to bring more firefighters and equipment to the scene, he said.

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Published Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

CHRIS MULICK AND JOHN TRUMBO HERALD STAFF WRITERS

SOAP LAKE — Grant County’s xxxx xxxxx, …died in a fire at her Soap Lake home
….more at LINK

A sheriff’s news release said nothing was found to indicate there were smoke detectors in the house. The fire may have started in the covered porch close to a heat lamp and outdoor pet heating pad.

“The fire is believed to be the result of failure of one of these devices, and accidental,” said the news release issued by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.

Firefighters who were first to reach the wind-driven blaze looked through the bedroom windows in a futile attempt to find Claussen, said Jennifer L. Wood, public information officer for the Ephrata Fire Department.
….more at LINK

With a lot of wind like that, I’m not sure my power strip would have detected the smoldering in time to prevent ignition. I’m blogging because of the suspect devices.

Wildwood Fire Destroys Apartment

By Herald Staff

Scattered relics including framed photographs were placed on a hood of a car outside the residence. See below for video. Photos by Rick Racela.

….

Terilyn and her husband Paul Alexander’s apartment at 423 W. Bennett Ave., second floor, west, was consumed by fire Dec. 25.

…According to Captain Chris D’Amico, of the Wildwood Fire Department at the scene the cause of the fire remains undetermined and is still under investigation. D’Amico was unavailable for comment on the status of the investigation by deadline.

However, Terilyn Alexander believes that the blame lies with a brand new heating pad that was left plugged in.

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Those heating pads should not be left plugged in.  They are a menace.  Not the first fire I’ve seen caused by one.  

CAPE MAY COUNTY, N.J. — A Christmas night fire burns a South Jersey family out of their home.They have faced hard times before.”You’re looking at my Christmas Day dinner,” Terilyn Alexander said.

“We lost everything, everything,” she said. “Everything but a few pictures.”"It started as a beautiful Christmas morning,” Paul Alexander said. “In 20 minutes, our house was totally gone.”The Alexanders were at a friend’s house when the fire broke out. No one was hurt.”That was the Christmas tree,” one of them said, walking around their burned-out apartment.The couple lived in the second floor unit with two of their five children.”It’s difficult because I’m the only one in the house with a job, and it all falls back on me,” said Donna Dempster, whose home was also destroyed.The fire couldn’t have come at worse time, NBC 10’s Ted Greenberg reported.

It started in the living room, where a heating pad given to Terilyn Alexander as a gift to relieve her pain was left plugged in.

more at LINK 

Manufacturers warn not to leave those plugged in.  But you have to figure many of the poeple who use them are on painkillers and might forget to unplug them.  Better to have them plugged into my power strip in case smoldering starts.