Preventable Fire Stories

A fire injured a man and damaged an apartment Monday in southern Winston-Salem, authorities said yesterday.

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A man was treated by Forsyth County paramedics for smoke inhalation and was taken to Forsyth Medical Center, the Winston-Salem Fire Department said. The fire damaged a second-floor apartment at 3514 Konnoak Drive.

The fire was started shortly before 7:30 p.m. by a coffee maker, the fire department said. It took firefighters 17 minutes to put out the fire.

The fire caused $40,000 in damage to the apartment building, the fire department said. The American Red Cross assisted the two adults who lived in the apartment.

I wonder what brand of coffee maker.   My power strip hides neatly below the top cabinets, above kitchen work surfaces, and would shut off smoldering coffee makers.

A few firefighters have minor injuries and a duplex is destroyed after it erupts in flames, twice! The first fire started around eight last night. The Fire Marshall said a laptop charger sparked the blaze.

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Mount my power strip under the desk, on the underside of the desktop.  It could cut off the space heater, a PC, or anything else.  Could have prevented a pretty big claim and some business disruptions.

Flames ripped through part of a commercial building in Gig Harbor early Thursday after a space heater was left on under a desk, the Gig Harbor Fire Department reported.

Two employees of 7 Seas Brewing reported the fire at 7512 Stanich Lane just before 12:30 a.m. The men were working in the building when they smelled the smoke, then found the fire, firefighters said.

Because of the size of the building and the size of the fire, Gig Harbor got help from Tacoma and University Place firefighters.

Fire damaged two of the units, which hadn’t yet opened for business. They were home to Compass Property Management and 7 Seas Brewing. Three other occupants had smoke and fire damage.

Investigators determined that a space heater left on under a desk caused the blaze, the Fire Department reported. The losses were estimated at $750,000.

Stacey Mulick, The News Tribune

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Four young women attending Laurentian University are being looked after by the Red Cross after the heat lamp over their pet lizard’s cage caught on fire in their apartment Jan. 15.

Greater Sudbury Fire Services were called to a home on Fernwood Drive at 2:53 Thursday afternoon when the downstairs tenants in the house noticed smoke coming from the door of the students’ upstairs apartment.

“A couple of these students are in the biology department, so they had some exotic pets. They had heat lamps on a lizard cage,” said Platoon Chief Tony Thibeault.

“Through investigations through the electrical safety authority and the fire department, we determined that the fire was from the ceramic heat lamp. It was electrical in origin.”

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loss of rental income

My power strip could have prevented this lamp from smoking and causing this danger and the claims for fire damage, water damage, and loss of rental income.

The second fire erupted just an hour later at a southwest Houston apartment complex in the 100 block of East Tidwell.

Officials said a woman had placed a shirt over a lamp shade in her 1-year-old child’s room, which may be the cause of the fire.

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The SmokeShutoff power strip can shut off the space heater before flames take hold.  Property owners and insurers should provide them to tenants to prevent loss of rental income, and large claims.

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -

…
But Rebecca is not alone. Six other families are in her same shoes; that’s 13 people all together.

Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins says the fire started because of a space heater in one unit.

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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.

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Those could be wired into my SmokeShutoff power strip.  Would save a lot of claims, and maybe some lives.

A baseboard heater caused a fire that destroyed one room of a Myrtle Beach motel and displaced five families, officials said.

The fire was reported at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Aquarius Family Motel building No. 4 on 12th Avenue North. When firefighters arrived flames were visible from the third floor roof of the building near Chester Street.

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Looks like another fire my SmokeShutoff power strip could have prevented if installed above the battery charging station, to shut off the charger at the first sign of smoke.

By Andy Ioannou 10.NOV.08
A fire at a Cyprus ice cream factory has destroyed three vehicles and caused damage estimated at €100,000

The Greek-language Phileleftheros newspaper reports that the fire broke out at around 9pm yesterday at the Papafilippou ice cream factory in the Nicosia industrial area Paliometochou.

According to police, the fire was caused by a short-circuit in a battery charger in one of the vehicles.

Further tests will be conducted today, while police Station Kokkinotrimithias continue to investigate the case.

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Insurers!  Look at all the claims you’re paying at golf courses due to fires caused by recharging carts.  My power strip would reduce these claims.

BARRY ROCHE, Southern Correspondent

GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING a fire which caused close to €1 million worth of damage to a Co Cork golf club believe the fire was accidental and most likely caused by an electrical fault in a golf buggy.

Muskerry Golf Club near Cloghroe about six miles from Cork city.

The alarm was raised at about 8.45pm on Sunday by a barman tidying up in the clubhouse….

The blaze grew more intense when the fire ignited a mains gas supply, causing the building to become engulfed in flames….

…Garda technical experts began a forensic examination of the scene yesterday.

Supt Con Cadogan, who is heading up the investigation, said that all evidence so far suggests that the fire was caused by an electrical fault while a golf buggy was charging.

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