Beware: Electric heaters can light the fire

BY JOHN L. GUERRA

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Danny Blanco remembers entering the scene of a fire that had burned out some bedrooms in a family’s home in the Keys.

“The residential fire started in the bedroom,” said the fire marshal division chief for Key West as he recounted that day. “The bed was made and the family put an electric heater on in the room. The heater, which wasn’t up against the bed, still ignited the comforter. Once flames hit the mattress, which are highly flammable, the fire spread. There was a good amount of damage, probably $60,000 to $80,000 in damage.”

Blanco and Keys Energy, in separate campaigns, started warning Key West and county residents to be careful with not only electric heaters, but turkey fryers and Christmas lights.

“Space heaters, and any electrical product with a heating element, produce a lot of heat, and, if not used carefully, can become a fire hazard,” Keys Energy spokesman Julio J. Torrado said last week.

If you use one, follow these rules:

  • Don’t use an extension cord with tree lights or electric heaters.
  • Make certain the circuit into which you plug a space heater can adequately and safely handle the added demand.
  • Never remove the grounding feature on a plug by clipping or grinding off the third prong.
  • Use an adapter to connect the heater’s three-prong plug, if you do not have a three-hole receptacle.
  • Relocate heaters away from passageways and keep all flammable materials such as curtains, away from the outlet.
  • Keep heaters at least four feet away from anything else.

 

The tradition of frying turkeys in Key West has resulted in grease fires that ignite back decks on homes, Blanco said. He sees that as a more common mishap.

“People don’t understand how quick that happens how it moves so quickly,” said Blanco, who as a firefighter responded to fryer “explosions.” The fryers don’t actually explode, but if a partially thawed turkey is dropped into hot grease, the grease erupts, pours over the side of the fryer, and ignites on the open flame heating the device.

“People have to make sure their turkeys are all-the-way defrosted,” Blanco said. “It’s like putting a giant ice cube in hot oil. There’s going to be an eruption. In the last couple of years, we’ve had to respond to back decks that have caught fire.”

Blanco suggests some tips when frying the big birds: Make sure the turkey is completely thawed, pat it down with paper towels to remove any moisture from the bird, and have a fire extinguisher ready.

One more tip: Don’t fry a turkey in your garage or under an overhang.

Trying to hide an active extension cord is a common mistake, Blanco said.

“If the extension cord is coiled up and put behind a bed, it tends to heat up and can ignite,” he said.

Christmas lights are much safer than they once were. Alex Vegas, the retired firefighter who founded the Key West Firehouse Museum, remembers the large bulbs that got so hot they burned fingers of those handling them. Modern lights put off much less heat, but the misuse of extension cords negates any safety features of modern lights, Vegas said.

“We told people to check the extension cords before using them to make sure there’s nothing frayed, that nothing is spilled on the floor near them, things like that,” Vegas said. “But it’s never a good idea to use extension cords if you don’t need one.”

 

 

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