Adam Hogue

2/3/16

Cold winter temperatures often cause problems including frozen water pipes and sniffling noses, but perhaps the most dangerous threat during these frigid and dark months is the risk of fire often caused by space heaters.

In the city of Olive Branch, firefighters stay on high alert during the cold months, anticipating the inevitable distress calls.

One recent incident took place on Jan. 18 at 2818 Lake Forest Road in Olive Branch, Mississippi. Emergency responders were called to the scene of a family home after a fire broke out in a first floor bedroom.

“We can be pretty busy in the wintertime,” said Olive Branch fire and emergency responder Rickey Rials. “A lot of times it has to do with those little space heaters that people use a lot during this time of year.”

Inspectors said that the cause of the fire came from a spark due to an overloaded extension cord. Fire crews were able to contain the blaze within the bedroom and extinguish it and no injuries were reported in the incident.

Estimates from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission indicate that more than 25,000 residential fires every year are related to space heaters.

“The problem is,” Rials said, “people buy these little cheap, brown extension cords, the ones that are about the width of a phone cord, and they overload them with four or five different things plugged into it.”

Rials said that these extension cords simply are not made to handle many appliances being plugged into them.

“What happens is when you have all these things plugged into the cord it gets overheated and it causes it to literally melt,” he said. “It just so happens that the cord is usually laying on the carpet or somewhere and it causes a fire to start.”

Olive Branch citizen and pizza restaurant owner Robyn Johnstone, 56, says that she generally tries to refrain from relying on space heaters due to the risks they pose.

”Not too long ago the heat went out here at the restaurant and I thought about going out and getting a little space heater or two,” Johnstone said. “But I was just hesitant about getting one, so we all just kind of bundled up at work until we could get someone out to fix our thermostat.”

However, though space heaters can often be linked to the cause of fires during the winter, Rials says that it is not the space heaters themselves necessarily, but rather the manner in which they are used that causes the problems.

“I would advise that people not plug more than one into one extension cord,” Rials warned. “Don’t leave them running for long periods of time. Try not to leave them on all night, or maybe even buy one that has a timer.”