Just when it seemed that structure fires in Eden Prairie had become a thing of the past, the odds have caught up with us the past 10 days with four house fires. The first two fires, August 16th and again on the 18th were the result of preventable actions taking place. One fire was due to the sparks from a welding torch and the other from a light left on in a storage area too close to combustible materials.
Fires three and four came in today within just two minutes of one another, both due to lightening strikes. Both of these fires would fall under the category of acts of nature and not really too preventable. Lightening is a powerful energy source and when it strikes a home directly or even gets close to a home. In the first fire the roof peak area of the home was struck and immediately started a fire in the attic area. The homeowners reported a “Big Blast” and immediately smelled smoke, the exited the home and called 911. Fire crews arrived within minutes, and quickly knocked the bulk of the fire out, but the roof of the home was severely damaged and repairs will take time to be completed.
The second lightening strike appears to have hit the lawn of the home and found a wire for the in-ground sprinkler system, traveling along that wire into the garage roof area and across other wires in the attic space. In this case it was not immediately apparent that the home had been struck, until a few minutes later the homeowner smelled smoke and discovered a well developed fire in the attic, just like the other lightening strike. Once again fire crews arrived promptly and quickly got the bulk of the fire knocked down. As with the other lightening fire in the attic, damage to the roof was extensive and repairs will take time.
In all four fires the homeowners were able to quickly exit the structure and avoid any injuries, this is always the number one priority. So without trying to jinx anything, I am hopeful that we will return to a pace a very few fires going forward. We have had exceptional results with our fire prevention efforts over the past several years and had an accompanying low level of fire loss, we will continue our efforts to help maintain the overall trend. Below are two pictures of one of the fires we responded to this morning.
