You may read this like the menu for a potluck dinner, but I want to talk about four very different causes that all resulted in damaging fires. Some of these will sound familiar if you have read any of my past articles. The significant piece about these fires was that they all occurred within a few days of each other. By discussing the various causes, it is my hope that my readers will learn from the mistakes of others.
The first fire has the most familiar and leading cause of residential fires in America, unattended cooking. Food left on the stove caught fire. Most of the fires that occurred in 2020 and most of the fires that will occur in 2021 will start in the kitchen. Cooking is a full-time job. The problem is that we as a society have accepted kitchen fires as an accidental fire. Smoke alarms and residential sprinkler systems have become the answer to the kitchen fire. I believe that it makes more sense to prevent the fire from occurring in the first place.
The second fire caused damage to the electrical feed to the home, with the fire cause being improperly discarded smoking materials. This particular cause has led to many different types of damage, from the front or rear of a house being on fire to this situation that caused damage to vital electrical equipment. It is imperative that if you smoke, whether inside or outside of your home, you must have a metal container to put the cigarette butts in. One of the deadliest fires in Chesterfield’s history was caused by improperly discarded smoking materials. As for the one that damaged the electrical feed, it still displaced the family that lived there.
The third fire was caused by a problem created when the owner attempted to bypass the meter. This is a huge problem when someone tries to get out of paying for the electricity that they are using. The dangers associated with this act are tremendous. The chance of electrocution is great, but this is a situation that will eventually lead to a fire. This type of fire causes firefighters to have to be on their game at all times. When homeowners try to do illegal things, normal things are not normal things. Normally, pulling a meter will kill the power from the meter base to the panel box. By bypassing the meter, there would still be power even if the meter had been pulled.
The fourth fire occurred in a woodworking shop. The cause of this fire was combustibles or wood placed too close to a wood stove. The closest that any combustible should be to any heat source is three feet, but there may be cases when combustibles should be even further away than that.
Each one of these fires could have been prevented. The human factor was the lead contributing factor to each of these fires. My task with this article has been to keep the fire problem before you in the hope that you will correct your bad habits. Smoke alarms and sprinkler systems are much needed items in trying to keep a fire from becoming fatal. It is important that you and I do everything possible to prevent a fire from occurring. A fire that does not happen, cannot become a fatal fire. Do your part.
