# Portable Heater Fires



## mark handler (Jan 28, 2010)

Portable Heater Fires in Residential Buildings

An estimated 3,800 portable heater fires occur annually in the United States.

Only 2 percent of residential building heating fires involve portable heaters, but these fires

account for 25 percent of fatal residential building heating fires.

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/tfrs/v10i3.pdf


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## steveray (Jan 28, 2010)

Re: Portable Heater Fires

So....Can we ban them? If we save one life...it will be worth it!


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## incognito (Jan 29, 2010)

Re: Portable Heater Fires

And lets not forget radon. Every year 20,000 people die(so say the "experts") of lung cancer caused by radon. Lets require every home in the USA to have a radon venting system. At least it has the potential to save 10 times more lives then say.....residential fire sprinklers.


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## FM William Burns (Jan 29, 2010)

Re: Portable Heater Fires

Rally the players and make your proposals heard from sea to shining sea.  Lets try to not hate the players, hate the game!

BTW: I don't advocate hate........just making the point reference and its Friday


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## peach (Jan 29, 2010)

Re: Portable Heater Fires

Let's ban screws in dryer duct..

Oh, it is banned by the Code...

Let's start to enforce it..


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## FM William Burns (Jan 29, 2010)

Re: Portable Heater Fires

Amen Peach, Amen :!:


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## RJJ (Jan 30, 2010)

Re: Portable Heater Fires

I don't believe anyone will ever be able to ban portable heaters! The lobby is to strong! We need to look at ways to make them safer if that is possible.


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## Frank (Feb 1, 2010)

Re: Portable Heater Fires

The problem with banning indoor portable heaters is that if the main heat is out or imbalanced people will use makeshift means if there are no approved ones available.

Clerk in cubicle A has portable electric heater under desk to keep from shivering while next clerk is warm--looking at the row of cubes outside my office.

It is safer to have listed labled portable heaters available and used, than to have people using makeshift heaters (connect garden hose with clamps to gas line and a piece of pipe into a rock filled metal bucket in a garage or industrial setting) outdoor appliances, portable stoves, or gas ranges and ovens to get heat when the furnace is down or the power is out.

And yes, I have carried the bodies out on more than one occasion as the result of misued portable heaters usually combined with other stupidity factors.

It is a question of the lesser risk.


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## JBI (Feb 1, 2010)

Re: Portable Heater Fires

Fortunately, no-one was home when...

An illegal two-family, with an illegal bedroom in the basement (would've bee a 'cellar' under our old code as more than half is below grade). The occupants of the basement room used an electric space heater to keep warm. Modern type liquid-filled 'radiator'.

Ran the extension cord from the laundry room into the bedroom, and placed a laundry basket on top of the cord (probably so they wouldn't trip on it!). The basket had 'stuff' in it - leftovers from when they moved in, not laundry.

To my untrained eyes, it appeared that someone had spliced the cord previously by twisting the ends together (and likely using black/electrical tape to cover the splices). Maybe they put the basket on top to keep their infant from playing with it? Whyever they did it, I'll never know.

The heavy basket on top of the poorly made splice on top of cheap carpet, next to wooden (white pine) baseboard trim and panelling only on partition wall (no GWB under it). Toss in a very cold bit of weather for non-stop use of the heater...

Officially 'accidental causes'. I didn't know 'stupid' was an accidental cause...

One thing we all agreed on, Damn lucky no-one was home at the time of the fire.


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## FM William Burns (Feb 1, 2010)

Re: Portable Heater Fires

I ran many a call on civilians who arrived in South Florida prior to the earthquake who use to light fires in the bath tubs with phone books (quite large) during February and seen some pretty stupid stuff up here also :shock:


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