A thermostat controlled bedroom electric wall heater is believed to have been the cause of a fire at a single wide mobile home Monday near Center Hill Marina.
County Fire Chief Donny Green told WJLE that the mobile home, belonging to Tommy Thomas of Virginia, is used as a summer dwelling. No one was there when the fire started and no one was injured.
According to Chief Green the fire was contained to a bedroom but smoke spread throughout the home.
“The cause of the fire is determined to be an electric wall heater in a bedroom that the owner thought was turned off. The owner had placed a table and some contents in front of the heater, not realizing that the heater would come on when inside temperatures dropped,” said Chief Green.
Firefighters brought the fire under control and also kept the blaze from spreading to five other mobile homes surrounding the Thomas residence.
Members of the Liberty, Temperance Hall, Cookeville Highway, and Main Stations responded along with the Sheriff’s Department and DeKalb EMS.
Chief Green reminds residents and property owners to make sure heating devices controlled by thermostats are turned off when you are away from home. “The only way to turn off an electric wall heater is to completely disconnect the power. The switch on the front of the heater only acts as a thermostat and when temperatures drop to unusually low levels, these heater will come on, even when the knob says they are in the “off” position,” he said.
Chief Green says that his department sees these accidents happen often and wants everyone to be aware of wall heater safety considerations.
Archived News & Obituaries