Fire in wall outlet

Electrical fire consumes family belongings

(Created: Tuesday, August 07, 2007)

Elizabeth Doney Havre Daily News edoney@havredailynews.com

A local woman, Jeni Ratliff, living with her parents, Lance and Jan Zuelke, and grandmother, Frankie Zuelke, about five miles south of Havre, and her children lost all their personal belongings in an electrical fire July 30. The fire, which officials said originated in one of the wall outlets, consumed an 8’ x 14’ bedroom and its contents.

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The Bear Paw Volunteer Fire Department, located south of Havre, dispatched eight firefighters and had the fire completely out and mopped up by 7:45 p.m., Gregoire said. “We determined that it was an electrical fire — an outlet got hot and didn’t kick off the breaker. The outlet continued to get hot until it caught on fire,” Gregoire said. “It appeared to be an electrical problem off a wall outlet. The location of the outlet and the amount of damage that would melt it down completely shows that’s where the fire most likely started. The wiring leading to that outlet appeared to have been overheated real bad.”

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My power strip with smoke detecting shutoff has a good chance of preventing these kinds of fires because once the outlet starts smoldering my power strip can power off whatever is drawing electricity and causing the overheating condition.