Smoke Detectors & Power Strips

[Terry T]

Not at all trucking related, but I just feel the need to mention this to eveyone I know.

Without going into the long story with all the details, my friend Kenny is a Columbia City, IN police officer & a Thorn Creek Twp firefighter and his wife, Julie is a Whitley County Sheriff Department dispatcher. A nightmare came true for them Thursday night at approx 11pm. Julie took a 911 call of a house fire.... from their 15 year old son. Yes their house was on fire, Kenny was 1st on scene and had to fight a fire in his own home after Julie took the 911 call of their own home on fire.

Kenny has stressed. Check your smoke detectors, they save lives. Have a family emergency plan, They do and it got both of their sons out alive and unharmed. They did loose one of their 3 cats in the fire.

I want to stress, check each of your outlets and all of your power strips. Kenny believes that the fire started in a powerstrip next to their bed. This is the power strip that had his scanner, police radio charger, police radio battery charger & fire radio plugged into. The new 800 radios that the department has gone to has a duel battery system and he believe that this was enough to overheat the power strip.

T.

[1958 F.W.D.]

Not at all trucking related, but I just feel the need to mention this to eveyone I know.

Without going into the long story with all the details, my friend Kenny is a Columbia City, IN police officer & a Thorn Creek Twp firefighter and his wife, Julie is a Whitley County Sheriff Department dispatcher. A nightmare came true for them Thursday night at approx 11pm. Julie took a 911 call of a house fire.... from their 15 year old son. Yes their house was on fire, Kenny was 1st on scene and had to fight a fire in his own home after Julie took the 911 call of their own home on fire.

Kenny has stressed. Check your smoke detectors, they save lives. Have a family emergency plan, They do and it got both of their sons out alive and unharmed. They did loose one of their 3 cats in the fire.

I want to stress, check each of your outlets and all of your power strips. Kenny believes that the fire started in a powerstrip next to their bed. This is the power strip that had his scanner, police radio charger, police radio battery charger & fire radio plugged into. The new 800 radios that the department has gone to has a duel battery system and he believe that this was enough to overheat the power strip.

T.

I am a fire marshal/fire inspector by trade and I wish I had a buck for every time I found an overloaded multi-strip. Many folks do not realize that the "average" $10 multi-strip sold at Wally world is only rated for 15-20 amps. I have lost count of the number of times that I have seen three or four high-amperage devices (hair dryers, air conditioners. etc) plugged into them. Also, I can GUARANTEE that every time I do a fire inspection in an office building, I will find one (or more) multi-strips plugged into another multi-strip; turning one outlet into 12.......As for smoke detectors, complaceny kills. I also inspect rental residential units and always fine MORE dead or missing batteries on one inspection than I find properly functioning detectors. The National Fire Protection Association recommends that everyone change their batteries twice a year, at the beginning and end of daylight savings time. This also goes for backup batteries in hard-wired detectors.

[other dog]

Thanks, good advice.

[Rob]

May sound a bit ironic but just yesterday I replaced all the smoke detectors in the house with combination new units that sense CO2, fire, and smoke emmisions. All these are mounted a bit down from the ceiling of each room. We did this for both the new baby, and to replace aged sensors.

I'm an electronic technician by trade and don't use "power strips" with the exception of the surge suppressor on the computer. These things are a know hazzard I've never allowed. Maybe this is one of the only things I do right?

Rob

[joes mack]

i know the feeling first hand. i was just siting on the couch with my wife one day and all the sudden startrd hearing electrical arc and seeing smoke coming from behind the cabinet. thought it was the plug outlet but it was the power strip. ive been a fire fighter for 20 years and seen many dif types of structure fires. some set on purpose some not. all of the training in the world dont prepare you for your own home/family emergency. but when i calmed down i went into fighting mode and went to doing what needed to be done. if i hadnt been home the outcome prob(more than likely ) would of been diferent because i was suposed to be at work but the owners started rotating workers to cut cost and try not to lay anyone off. im just glad it was my turn to be off that day. joe

[GreenGiant2]

a good word of advise since the holidays are coming and more lites will be used.

gg2

[westom]

I'm an electronic technician by trade and don't use "power strips" with the exception of the surge suppressor on the computer.

Some of the more dangerous power strips contain protector parts. These are typically near zero (hundreds of) joules. So undersized that its MOVs must disconnect as fast as possible during a potentially destructive transient. Sometimes those MOVs do not disconnect fast enough resulting in a power strip or house fire.

A power strip must always have a 15 amp circuit breaker so that it will protect from fire when a resident makes a serious mistake (ie daisy chain them, connect to an air conditioner, connect a heater). A user is expected to sum amperage from each device using numbers already on each appliance label. Then a strip is not overloaded. And further protected by the emergency backup protection - the circuit breaker.

But the other reason for fire (protector parts not disconnecting fast enough) is a fire threat that no one can protect from.

If using a real Christmas tree, then better is to use a (or replace the existing) circuit breaker with an arc fault type. Not GFCI; are fault. Because a Christmas tree fire can take out an entire house in only five minutes.

[fxfymn]

Since the subject of smoke detectors came up I want to stress the need to replace battery powered detectors at least every ten years. There are several case histories where the detectors went into alarm, but the audibility was so poor due to their age that they failed to alert the occupants. I had the misfortune to deal with a case where a family of five perished because of this.

The code requirements that dictate detector location have also changed over the years. At one time one detector outside of the sleeping areas was considered adequate. Now the codes require one in each sleeping area as well as one in the access hall to the sleeping area.

Battery powered smoke detectors are generally around 10 bucks. Pretty cheap compared to the consequences.

And speaking of detection; what do you do in your shop or garage area to provide protection? One of the leading fire apparatus restorers had a devastating fire last year that gutted his shop with the loss of many irreplaceable relics. While I'm sympathetic to the man's loss I am also quite surprised that he would not have provided protection for such a valuable property. Money spent on heat detectors and an alarm system is well spent when you consider the value of your shop and its contents.

.