The start of winter often signals the start of a spat of household fires as residents make more use of their fireplaces or light more candles. Firefighters will tell you that careless smoking and candles cause a surprisingly large percentage of household fires.
The photos below are of a recent household apartment fire in Eden Prairie. This fire was caused by a candle. In photo #1, you can see where the fire started. The candle was on top of the Candyland game box, on the second shelf. The candle burned up into the bottom of the top shelf.
In photo #2 you can see the burn pattern from the candle. Fires typically leave a ‘V’ shaped burn pattern where the tip of the ‘V’ is at the initial source of the fire. It’s not a perfectly shaped ‘V’, of ocurse, but I think you can make out the ‘V’ shape on the wall and follow it back to the second shelf of the plastic shelving unit where the fire started.
Neither the residents, nor any firefighters were injured by the fire at this apartment. There was property damage, however, and the lives of the residents are now significantly disrupted. Fire is a dangerous and powerful tool. We often don’t treat fire with the appropriate amount of deference, and this is what happens when we don’t.
