Fire report

[cowboyjwc]

Had a fire in town last week, blamed on an "electrical shortage", I would think that would have been a good thing.:grin:

Of course three days later, they're saying that they may have been mistaken.:roll:

When will they learn that just because the cord is melted, doesn't mean it started the fire.

 

[Buck Parrish]

Had a fire in town last week, blamed on an "electrical shortage", I would think that would have been a good thing.:grin:

Of course three days later, they're saying that they may have been mistaken.:roll:

When will they learn that just because the cord is melted, doesn't mean it started the fire.

The dog may have smelled treats under the cord.

 

[SEO]

I saw a true electrical fire in a residence a couple weeks ago. The POCO was installing a meter for an ac and the ground wire to the condencing unit faulted to one of the phases in the meter. The fault traveled thru the line set from the ac to the furnace then back thru the ground wire in the cable feeding the furnace to the panel. The cable melted the other adjacent cables along the way and started a fire in the attic.

 

[bphgravity]

There is a limited number of things that can cause a dwelling fire. Cigarettes, candles, cooking, dryer vents, other appliance faiure, electrical failure, lightning. Arson is another matter all together.

If a fire occurs, and no one was cooking, using the dryer, using other appliances, smoking, or using candles, the blame will be on electricity.

Or I should say, the blame will be on electricity until one of those other items are determined to be at fault.

 

[PetrosA]

I saw a true electrical fire in a residence a couple weeks ago. The POCO was installing a meter for an ac and the ground wire to the condencing unit faulted to one of the phases in the meter. The fault traveled thru the line set from the ac to the furnace then back thru the ground wire in the cable feeding the furnace to the panel. The cable melted the other adjacent cables along the way and started a fire in the attic.

This just makes me want to ask sooooo many questions :-?

 

[cowboyjwc]

There is a limited number of things that can cause a dwelling fire. Cigarettes, candles, cooking, dryer vents, other appliance faiure, electrical failure, lightning. Arson is another matter all together.

If a fire occurs, and no one was cooking, using the dryer, using other appliances, smoking, or using candles, the blame will be on electricity.

Or I should say, the blame will be on electricity until one of those other items are determined to be at fault.

While this is true, I just find that a catch all phrase is not really fair. A short in a microwave that starts a fire is not the same as a faulty install. Lint in the dryer vent is not the same as a short in the dryer.

You get the point. If we want people to be safe, they need to be aware of what to look for.

I was on one where I was 90% sure that I knew the cause, which was a metal polishing business, in a unit that it was not approved to be in. According to their story, they were polishing aluminum when there was a spark in a hanging cord, which then caught some plastic and set off a pallet of magnisium parts, and you can guess the rest.

So I told the investigator that I was pretty sure that some aluminum dust had gotten in the cord cap and caused it to short out. He said "thanks, we'll put it down as an electrical short circuit."

 

[StephenSDH]

I investigated an electrical fire that my previous company caused, and their insurance payed for. There was a Hubble 4x Plastic 30A switch that was fed from a super long feed with the wrong overcurrent protection, at a waste water facility. When there was an internal short in the Hubble switch the breaker didn't trip because the bolted fault current was reduced by the long feed. The little out building burned down. In this case our electrician wired it on his own without asking the office for assistance in sizing the feed.