NFPA Journal - March/April 2012 - (Page 14)
>> FIREWATCH
from our files by Ken Tremblay
A 55-year-old man died in his home in a fire that began when an overloaded power strip ignited combustibles covering it.
Residential
Overloaded power strip starts fatal fire
CALIFORNIA—A 55-year-old man who had several disabilities, including blindness, died of exposure to heat and smoke in a fire that started in the bedroom where he was sleeping. The man lived alone in a 900-squarefoot (84-square-meter), single-story, wood-frame house. The house was equipped with a battery-operated smoke alarm, but the battery was reported to have been removed on the evening of the fire, when smoke from cooking set it off. The house had no fire sprinklers. A neighbor heard banging and other activity about an hour before the fire was reported. This was not
uncommon, but when it continued, the neighbor investigated, saw the fire, and called 911 around 4 a.m. Investigators determined that several electrical appliances with largediameter power cords were plugged into a power strip that was covered by clothes and books. The overloaded strip eventually generated enough heat to ignite the items covering it, and the fire spread to other combustibles in the room. A home oxygen generator and a spare oxygen bottle became involved and contributed to the fire’s intensity. The house and its contents, valued at $100,000 and $40,000, respectively, were destroyed. In addition to the victim’s disabilities, blood tests revealed that he was both intoxicated and had
both legal and illicit drugs in his blood stream when he died.
Cigarette starts house fire
PENNSYLVANIA—A 56-year-old woman, whom neighbors claimed never left the house, suffered a heart attack while smoking, causing her to drop the lit cigarette. Heat from the cigarette ignited her clothing and bedding, and the fire spread to other combustibles in her second-floor bedroom. The woman’s three-story, singlefamily house had a brick veneer exterior and an asphalt-shingled roof. It had no smoke alarms or sprinklers. The fire smoldered for some time until a neighbor saw smoke and called the fire department at 7:15 a.m. Although the
14
NFPA JOURNAL MARCH/APRIL 2012
Photograph: ©David Benda/The Record Searchlight
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - March/April 2012
NFPA Journal - March/april 2012
Contents
First Word
Mail Call
In a Flash
Firewatch
Perspectives
Research
Heads Up
Structural Ops
In Compliance
Buzzwords
Outreach
Electrical Safety
Wildfire Watch
Elemental Questions
Dangerous by Design
A Harder Look at Detection
Conference + Expo Preview
Membership: The Sections
What’s Hot
Looking Back
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