Adjustable Bed fire

[JaimeJ]

I haven't posted in some time now. In fact, I retired from the City of El Cerrito, Ca. as their code enforcement officer and performed various building inspections in the five years of my employment there. I recently moved back to my home town of Buffalo, N.Y. I was recently speaking to my sister and she informed me that her brother in law and his wife were watching t.v. in the living room and were startled when their smoke alarm went off in their bedroom. They started smelling smoke and when they opened their bedroom door, their bed was on fire. Neither of them smoke. They were able to put it out and discovered that the remote control to their adjustable bed overheated and started the bed on fire. My question to anyone who can respond is 1) has anyone heard of this ever happening? and 2) aren't beds required to be made of non-combustible materials? Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Gosh I better make sure my remotes are tucked away safely. I wonder if the button was pushed and held there by a book or something.

As far as I know mattresses were treated with a non flammable chemical at one time but they discovered the chemical caused brain damage in children. I think they are treated but I am sure they are flame resistant but they will smolder.

Green mattress manufacturers stumbled upon the brilliant realization that, if you don't use flammable materials in mattresses, you won't have to use questionable materials to keep them from going up in flames. So they take materials like organic cotton and natural latex and wrap them in untreated wool, which is inherently fire resistant and meets the Consumer Product Safety Commission's standards for resisting open flames. For all the president's daughters, wool and latex have the added benefit of being resistant to dust-mites, which are highly allergenic and can factor in up to 80 percent of allergic reactions.

 

[JaimeJ]

Adjustable bed fire

Adjustable bed fire

No Dennis,
The remote control for the bed was left by itself at the edge of the bed. But that is a good point you brought up.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

No Dennis,
The remote control for the bed was left by itself at the edge of the bed. But that is a good point you brought up.

So was this bed on fire or smoldering (smoking)....

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Sounds like a lawsuit in the making here... Has the bed manufacturer responded.

 

[petersonra]

likely lithium batteries inside the remote shorted.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

likely lithium batteries inside the remote shorted.

I agree that that is the most likely culprit.

 

[JaimeJ]

Adjustable bed fire

Adjustable bed fire

The bed was on fire. I am surmising that the bedding, ie the blanket and sheets, were on fire and it spread to the bed itself. I know these items are supposed to be listed and/or approved by UL or some other approved listing agency. They feel that the remote may have shorted out and caused the battery, which I was told was a lithium, overheated and caused the fire. Of course, I would like to hear what the fire dept. had to say after their investigation.

 

[JaimeJ]

Adjustable bed fire

Adjustable bed fire

Dennis,
Good point regarding a possible lawsuit. They are waiting for the Fire Depts. report and will go from there. I told my sister that they should go on line to research if there are any recalls and other similar occurrences of this type. Thank God they weren't in bed sleeping.

 

[readydave8]

Mattresses burn well on trash pile, very hot and burn very rapidly. I haven't tried lighting one with a remote, usually get hot fire with wooden furniture going and then throw mattress on top.

 

[ActionDave]

I haven't posted in some time now. In fact, I retired from the City of El Cerrito, Ca. as their code enforcement officer and performed various building inspections in the five years of my employment there. I recently moved back to my home town of Buffalo, N.Y. I was recently speaking to my sister and she informed me that her brother in law and his wife were watching t.v. in the living room and were startled when their smoke alarm went off in their bedroom. They started smelling smoke and when they opened their bedroom door, their bed was on fire. Neither of them smoke. They were able to put it out and discovered that the remote control to their adjustable bed overheated and started the bed on fire. My question to anyone who can respond is 1) has anyone heard of this ever happening? and 2) aren't beds required to be made of non-combustible materials? Any input would be appreciated.

Hmmmm!

 

[Besoeker]

Hmmmm!

Expressed rather eloquently if I may say so.

 

[mgookin]

Wired or wireless remote?

 

[GoldDigger]

Wired or wireless remote?

Not likely to have a battery in a wired remote.

 

[mgookin]

Not likely to have a battery in a wired remote.

I was thinking along the line that if the control was hard wired, it may have line voltage going through it and that could cause a fire much more liklier than a battery powered remote at 3 VDC.