I went on a fire call this morning

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Pierre C Belarge

Pierre C Belarge

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Westchester County, New York
An unusual call this morning in relation as to how the fire originated.

The building is very old, all wood and poorly heated. The tenant had an electric heater out on the back enclosed porch. The dog dragged his bedding over by the heater and it ignited. All the people in the building got out, the dog perished in the fire.

There have been a rash of space heater caused fires here since the temperature has been below freezing. More than we usually see already, and winter has just started.
 
wbalsam1 said:
Many people are simply not aware of the dangers associated with combustibles in close proximity to electric baseboard heaters.
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Duh.....the dog dragged it's bedding over next to the heater. People are stupid and inconsiderate (all about them) no excuse the dog was not supervised by a responsible so called "human being".
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by wbalsam1
Many people are simply not aware of the dangers associated with combustibles in close proximity to electric baseboard heaters.

dcspector said:
Duh.....the dog dragged it's bedding over next to the heater. People are stupid and inconsiderate (all about them) no excuse the dog was not supervised by a responsible so called "human being".
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If the people I refer to were aware of the dangers associated with electric heaters and how hot the elements became during periods of use, they might be able to better maintain the proximity around such heaters and predict potential disasters likely to occur when they're asleep or away.

Keeping an area free from hazards likely to occur is just one more of those so called responsibilities humans are expected to do.

The dog was smart in a sense to drag his bedding over to the heat but didn't understand about the danger involved. I, too, feel sorry for the dog.
 
iwire said:
I was thinking portable heater, I was not aware electric baseboard got that hot.
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When I was young and not married too long, I put some baseboard heaters in an old home I had purchased.

One cold winter night while my wife and I slept (with our newborn baby in the crib nearby), my wife had kicked the blankets off the bed and a pillow lay propped against an 8 ft heater. It smoldered, the smoke alarm went off and when I awakened, the pillow had just burst into flames.

I threw the blankets over the pillow which smothered the fire, then took all of it outside and made sure it was out, left it, went back in and tried to sleep the rest of the night, but was just too afraid to.

The element of a baseboard heater can reach incredible degrees of heat.
 
Responsible or otherwise I would not wish someones house catching on fire on anybody. It is hard enough to get by without something like that happening.
 
Any kind of electric heater that will catch fire to clothing or the like should not be able

to be purchased. You hear these storys every winter, yet they keep letting them be for

sale. Why is it ok to burn your house down with the risk of people getting killed, but you

are breaking the law if you smoke a ciggarette in public.
 
If people would only read the warning labels that come with electrical items they purchase. During the ice storm of 1998, there were several deaths from carbonmonoxide poisioning because homeowners chose to install their generators inside their basements, exhaust and all! :mad: Go figure....:-?
 
benaround said:
Any kind of electric heater that will catch fire to clothing or the like should not be able

to be purchased. You hear these storys every winter, yet they keep letting them be for

sale. Why is it ok to burn your house down with the risk of people getting killed, but you

are breaking the law if you smoke a ciggarette in public.
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The same reason they let you buy and drive cars and trucks that kill people every day.
 
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