Mobile home fire linked to space heater

By Octavia Mitchell
Anchor / Reporter
Published: November 18, 2008

A Georgetown man is in critical condition from burns, after a fire caused by a portable heater destroyed his mobile home.  With record cold temperatures, fire officials want to get the word out about space heater safety.

Forty-two-year-old Carleston Thompson Jr. was burned severely, over 75-percent of his body in a fire at his mobile home on Dekalb Street in Georgetown.  He was transported to a burn center in Augusta, Georgia.  His son was also injured in the blaze on Dekalb street which started at around five Tuesday morning.  Three other family members escaped without injury.  Assistant fire chief Bill Johnson says the fire started after a space heater came in contact with flammable material.  Johnson says, “A portable heater came in contact with some combustibles, possibly some bed linens or blanket or something like that and set the house on fire.“

With record cold temperatures, Johnson says he wants to remind everyone to use extra precaution.  He says, “When things get really cold, people start to really jack them up real high, and get them as close to them as possible and this is a really dangerous situation.  We don’t need space heaters any closer to combustibles than 36 inches.  It will set bed linen, blankets, sheets and things like that on fire and the next thing you know you’re in the middle of a fire ball.“

David Tompkins is a neighbor and friend of the family, and also uses space heaters in his home.  “This is how I heat my home, right here. This or kerosene.  What I do before I leave home or anything I cut mine off and when I’m at home I try to keep it away from stuff, but you never know.“ Now he plans to take extra precaution. “Now I’ll try to take extra precaution, need to be careful that’s all I got to say, you can get burn up real bad or get killed.“

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 25-thousand residential fires every year are associated with the use of space heaters;  more than 300 people die in these fires; an estimated six-thousand people receive hospital emergency room care for burn injuries associated with space heaters.

Here are some things to keep in mind to keep you and your family safe:  keep space heaters on the floor, never on furniture, since they may fall;  keep things that burn at least three feet away from space heaters;  do not hide cords under rugs or carpets;  do not use an extension cord with electric heaters; when you’re not in the room or go to sleep, turn them off; and look for features like automatic shut-off and heating element guard; this could prevent a fire if the heater tips over.