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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

more at LINK

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

MERRIAM, Kan. — Something many people have in their homes sparked a fire that destroyed a Merriam house, firefighters said Monday.A battery charger plugged into a basement outlet started the blaze on Dec. 27, firefighters said.

• Video: Battery Charger Fire Destroys Merriam Home

more at LINK