Fire Case Studies

When too much energy is put in the wrong place, bad things can happen.  Here are a few examples of circuimstances where fires or explosions occurred as a result of a fuel supply and a heat source being too close together.  Sometimes the heat source is due to an electrical failure, sometimes it is an intended condition such as a pilot light.  There are several examples on our Electrical Case Studies page of additional fires in which electricity was involved.

	At some point during the middle of the night, an internal component in this electronic cash register failed catastrophically, igniting a piece of plastic mounted to the circuit board, then spreading to the plastic housing and out to the counter. The fire ultimately burned itself out, but not before producing enough smoke to kill the store's entire inventory of tropical fish.
	This high end electric sewing machine had numerous features including the ability to operate virtually unattended. Fortunately, the owner was in the same room when the power supply failed catastrophically and ignited a small fire. She had a fire extinguisher nearby and put it out before it spread to the large piles of fabric that were nearby.
	The man who lived in this townhome left his bagel in the toaster as he rushed out the door on his way to work. Unfortunately, a mechanical defect in the toaster prevented it from "popping up" when the bagel was toasted, and it continued to be heated until it ignited. The resultant fire created this classic "v-pattern" on the kitchen wall.
	In the course of renovating a basement room, an electrician installed electrical wiring just above the I-beam shown here on the surface of a wooden support plate. The wiring was not properly protected from penetration as required by the National Electrical Code, and when the drywall contractor was installing the sheet-rock, he drove a screw right through the electrical cable. When the electrician came back later and turned on the circuit breaker, it started a fire.
	The day started out with a backed up toilet and ended with a catastrophic explosion of this 450 MW power plant (depicted here after reconstruction).  Unfortunately, while the plumber was trying to resolve the drain stoppage, a sump pump turned on and dumped a significant quantity of untreated sewage onto the fuel safety control system computer and interfaces.  The maintenance team assembled to remediate the mess was not trained on the equipment and did not lockout the fuel gas.  A series of errors on the part of the maintenance team resulted in signals being sent to inadvertently open the main gas valve and the boiler full of natural gas exploded a short time later.
	Most of the connections in the propane system of this house were put together properly. Unfortunately, one that was buried just outside the house was not tightened sufficiently by the installer, and settlement in the soil around the house caused the connection to break free. The gas leaking into the soil migrated through the pentrations in the basement wall and accumulated in the basement until ignited the next time the boiler fired. The damage to the home was quite extensive.
	When a bathroom vent fan failed catastrophically, it dripped burning plastic from its cover. The burning plastic ignited the toilet seat and the rug below the toilet. The fire might have spread catastrophically, but the heat of the fire cracked the toilet tank, which then quenched the fire. Consequently, the event turned out to be a water loss, more than a fire loss.
	When the owner of this dryer started drying her clothes, she took her dog out for a walk (he couldn't stand the noise). The bearing had worn out, and the bearing support was cutting into the shaft. Ultimately, she came back from one of her walks to find the house on fire because the shaft had worn clear through and broken, resulting in the drum making contact with the electrical heating coils behind it. The electrical short generated excess heat and started a fire.