fire at ostrich farm caused by heat lamp, charger

By SARAH BEDFORD and JARED MORGAN - The Southland Times

A huge blaze that razed four buildings and caused an estimated $150,000 damage at an ostrich farm on Wednesday night had the potential to be much worse.

The fire at Five Rivers Farm, near Lumsden started inside a boat kept in a storage shed, which along with two other sheds and an office were destroyed by the blaze.

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Invercargill fire safety officer Mike Cahill investigated the scene yesterday and said a heat lamp rigged to keep frost at bay in the engine of a boat had sparked the blaze, which spread from the boat into the shed housing it.

The owner of the property had plugged in a battery charger that was still connected to the lamp, he said.

"The heat lamp ignited combustibles in the engine bay of the boat, that then ignited the boat and destroyed the sheds," he said.

"The poor bugger forgot the heat lamp was in there when when he powered up the battery charger."

My power strip would have turned off those 2 devices and sounded an alarm.