Computer Causes House Fire

[bmac]

My wife's good friend lost her home to fire over the Thanksgiving weekend. A beautifully restored 165 year old farm house. Fortunately, no one was home at the time so no injuries / loss of life (other than maybe the family cat that hasn't been seen since). The the home is a total loss. The right and left end walls and the steps to the front porch are the only things remaining. Everything in between is nothing but charred rubble.

The fire inspector said the the fire was caused by an over-heated battery in a Dell laptop computer. Apparently, there has been a recall on some Dell batteries for this very reason. I don't know if their's was one of the recalled models or not.

The point of this is, if you have a Dell laptop computer, check with Dell to see if your model is one of the faulty ones. Wouldn't want anyone to have a similar problem.

 

[Dusty]

Here is a link to the Dell battery recall information. It is unfortunate that this accident happened, and it is equally unfortunate that the mainstream news media hasn't followed up on this recall to better inform the public. I only knew of it because of a email that I received from a friend.
Dusty

 

[Gatorboy]

I wonder why the laptop would have been ON when no one was home?

I checked MONTHS ago concerning my Dell laptop battery, and it was NOT on the bad list.

The news about these batteries were on the news, radio, internet, etc. If you didn't hear about it you must have been under a rock.

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon Bmac,
Really sorry to hear about your friends house !!! Definitely a shame to have anything like that happen !

Dave, Im like you I always shut things off when Im away from the house. Unfortunately our youngest boy who is now 23 has his laptop going all the time ! I will definitely make sure that his computer doesnt have one of the suspected batteries in it ! Especially after reading this thread !

 

[N80]

I'd skip looking to see if your battery is on a recall list. This has been an on going problem with laptop batteries, primarily made by Sony, I think. My point is, the problem has been so widespread I'd just shut the laptop down when you are done. Up until now I've always left my Apple iBook on. There was a recall for some iBook batteries too, but mine wasn't on this list so I leave it on. But thinking about it now, I think it is best just to shut it down. I don't want my battery to be the first to start the next recall.

 

[Phils]

I could be off-base here but I THINK I remember when the problem was being discussed on the morning news shows that the laptop DIDN'T have to be on for the battery to short and start the fire.

Maybe someone else could verify or dispute this? It's a significant point toward prevention.

bmac, do you know whether your wife's friend's laptop was on or off?

Phil

 

[bmac]

I don't know any details regarding the ON / OFF status of the computer. With 2 teenage girls, maybe it was left on. And, although no one was IN the home, dad was on the property. They have a detached garage w/ apartment / office space and he was working in his office at the time the fire started. So, it is not unreasonable to think that he may have walked away from the computer for awhile, but did not turn it off.

I also think the Dell recall has been widely publicized. It is possible that their's was not on the official recall list, that they chose to ignore the recall, or that they have, in fact, been "living under a rock".

The interesting thing to me is how the fire inspector could determine the precise cause of the blaze just by examining the ruins. Amazing.

 

[BB_TX]

The interesting thing to me is how the fire inspector could determine the precise cause of the blaze just by examining the ruins. Amazing.

That amazes me also they could determine that in a home that had been completely destroyed. I think that would be an interesting profession to be in.
As far that on/off question, anytime the power cord is plugged in the battery is charging whether the computer is on or off. And batteries do get warm normally when charging. But apparently some over overheating.

 

[midlf]

The interesting thing to me is how the fire inspector could determine the precise cause of the blaze just by examining the ruins. Amazing.

I don't think it is amazing I think it is pure BS. Building totally destroyed. Conversation probably went like this: FI "did you have a dell laptop" OWNER "yes, it was destroyed in the fire" FI "well that is what caused the fire".

Many of us in the electric community are skeptical of all the fire causes that are listed as "electrical". A good example was the fire Marshall's report on a building that burned at a historic homestead "As the building was not wired for electricity, no cause for the fire could be determined."

It works the same in my business. If there is a thunderstorm in the area any outage is credited to "lightning" if no other cause can be found.

 

[daddywags]

I agree with midlf. It is extremely hard to determine the cause of a fire in a home that is totally destroyed. How do I know? Thirty years as a firefighter, I retired as an Assistant Chief of a large Department. The only way to make that call would involve weeks of investigation and then it still might be impossible to say for sure. If the damage is less than total the cause become easier to ID. If this was a large dept. or if the state investigators were involved then maybe I would believe it, if it is a smaller dept. with limited resourses then, at best it is a guess. My $.02