An extension cord hooked to an electric grill on a porch shorted out and started a house fire that killed five people Saturday morning, a northern Idaho fire official says.
Orofino Fire Chief Mike Lee said the house was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived after a neighbor reported the fire at 1:38 a.m.
He said smoke inhalation likely killed the two adults and three teens whose bodies were also badly burned in the blaze. He said the dead were a family of four plus a teenage friend who was sleeping over to help celebrate a birthday. He said he didn’t know the genders of the teens who died.
Sad story. Every time I buy an extension cord I drop a little extra and buy the contractor-grade cord. Of course I have a box full of cheapos that I’ve acquired in my travels. Don’t hook anything serious up to those cords…it could save your life.
Still, we live in a world where only “Gun Death” counts…
h/t Janelle
Sadly, they died of smoke inhalation. A working smoke detector may have saved them all. They are cheap, and worth every penny. For the price of a few boxes of good ammo, you can add smoke and CO detectors to your entire house.
When I bought my house, I replaced all the original 12 year old smoke detectors and added CO and propane gas monitors too. I need to replace the detectors again next year, as they have a recommended working life (although I cheat and add a few years to it).
One thing to think about is that Smoke is hot and lighter than air, while CO and Propane are heavier than air, so you might be better severed with separate units. All of our smoke detectors are ceiling mounted units, while our CO detectors are wall units mounted at the baseboards.
I saw this house when I was up there for Boomershoot. VERY tiny two story house and when the fire started it would have spread fast. It was all very old (and dry) wood and it’s obvious it was a very hot fire.
Good safety tip: Make sure your extension cord is rated for whatever amperage draw your “device” uses. Also remember that the longer the cord, the heavier it needs to be for a given amperage.
We use an electric lawn mower, and to the wife’s initial dismay, I insisted on purchasing a contractor-grade extension cord of sufficient gauge to handle the full draw of the mower at that length (IIRC, it’s 14-gauge for 18 amps at 100 ft; 16-gauge would have worked for 50 ft but we need the length). It costed 6 times as much as a “cheapo” cord (20-gauge, again IIRC), but I think it was a good investment.
Also, +1 on the upgrading/placement tips for smoke and CO detectors. We had to place more detectors in our home when we signed up as foster care providers, and during the next … er … “failed” dinner attempt, found that the new ones were an order of magnitude more sensitive than the old ones (built into the house). The old one in the kitchen DIDN’T go off, but the new one in the kids’ room did.
The house was very old. My dad (almost 90 years old) live in it for a while when he was going to high school.