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Cause of fire was overloaded power strip---HOW COMMON is that? Heck, you can be a very careful person, but if your next door neighbor has an overloaded power strip, you could lose your life to a fire.
was the power strip in her apartment? If so, then she was the dummie.
I also for the life of me can never understand why anyone would even consider living in a basement.
Basements were not meant to be habitable. They are for storage, laundry stuff, tools, work area, not eating, sleeping and bathing.
For those who dont know im a real estate agent, i have been in this building many times with and without clients and I NEVER knew of a basement apt, i was shocked to hear of such an apt existed. At first i thought it was a ground floor apt and she happened to be in the basement when the fire happened. All of the 1br i have seen in this building have ranged from $2250-$2600.
Regarding the $18,000 dispute, theres no way that basement apt is $3000, im assuming she paid something like 6 months security and 3 months up front (applying towards the end of the lease) due to terrible credit history or non verifiable income.
Either way its a sad story for someone to lose their life in such a brutal way
For those who dont know im a real estate agent, i have been in this building many times with and without clients and I NEVER knew of a basement apt, i was shocked to hear of such an apt existed. At first i thought it was a ground floor apt and she happened to be in the basement when the fire happened. All of the 1br i have seen in this building have ranged from $2250-$2600.
Regarding the $18,000 dispute, theres no way that basement apt is $3000, im assuming she paid something like 6 months security and 3 months up front (applying towards the end of the lease) due to terrible credit history or non verifiable income.
Either way its a sad story for someone to lose their life in such a brutal way
Is it possible it was $3000 if it had access to a private back yard? It seems she dubbed her apartment "Evelyn's Grotto" and even had a FB page just for her cool basement apartment. From the pics it looks like she had access to a private backyard where she threw parties. https://www.facebook.com/EvelynsGrotto/photos_stream
Steps I took IMMEDIATELY upon reading this referenced news story & thread
You see, reading this whole story made me immediately spend some hours today inspecting every square inch of my home to make sure that:
I am not using power strips beyond a modicum (and all my power strips were already the higher-quality type with surge protection and a built-in circuit breaker).
I do not have any occurrence of "daisy-chaining" power strips into other power strips.
All electrical devices, appliances, et al not in use at that moment are left UNplugged and decided that, from now-on, to keep any electrical devices, appliances, et al not in use at the time to be UNplugged and to be left UNplugged unless they are to be used and then immediately UNplugged again (except for the obvious, such as your landline phone, your cellphone charger, your refrigerator). Even for the microwave oven, I will only plug it in when ready to use it and, when finished, will UNplug it.
I make sure that there is minimal cord tangle anyplace.
I make sure no cords are underneath rugs, carpets, et al.
Make sure that all plugs, cords, power adapters, et al are in good condition and, if not, take them out-of-commission & replace them.
If any room doesn't have enough (or ample) wall plug outlets in it to handle whatever needs without getting caught up in using power strips, extensions cords, et al beyond a modicum, I will have a licensed electrical contractor install such outlets (or, if one lives in an apartment building, demand that the owners do so or else call the city's Inspection Dept. or Fire Dept. to report them or take it up with a lawyer . . . or else move from that living situation to another place) . . . and, ideally, any outlets installed in the wall should be 4-outlet receptables EACH (rather than 2-outlet receptacles).
For all computing/electronics or other higher-drawing electrical devices, I already own two high-quality UPS's (i.e., uninterruptible power supplies), each one with 8 power-backup & surge-protected outlets each (i.e., not like many other models that give you only 3 or 4 protected outlets and then all the rest of the outlets are simple pass-through outlets with no protection on them). My model is the Tripp Lite Smart1500LCD UPS. It was the only one I found (both of them bought in year 2008) that had 8 outlets & with all of the 8 outlets being power backup-protected, line-filtered, power-regulated, and surge-protected).
Of course, I have multiple smoke alarms and multiple Class A-B-C fire extinguishers (if necesary, I can get Class A-B-C-D or Class A-B-C-D-K extinguishers to replace the old ones).
I will ask the Fire Inspector/the Fire Dept. to inspect my home for hazards (if they do this) or else have some other legitimate party to make such an inspectIon (maybe even at periodic intervals, such as once a year).
In summary, I don't want to injure or kill myself or anyone else nor to cause property damage or loss to myself or anyone else.
You see, reading this whole story made me immediately spend some hours today inspecting every square inch of my home to make sure that:
Amen. That's one important reason why I initiated this thread. Maybe you live in a single house, but if not:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ny123
you can be a very careful person, but if your next door neighbor has an overloaded power strip, you could lose your life to a fire.
I think such information and knowledge need to be spread as widely as possible. I believe overloading power strips or daisy chaining wires are very common.
Nonetheless, I also hope the investigators do a good job to see if there is foul play involved in this horrible death.
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Steps I took IMMEDIATELY upon reading this referenced news story & thread
