Lifestyle

Texan Loses Home After Fire Starts From His Pet’s Space Heater

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Tony Maples Photography

 

This week in Seminole, Texas, a man tragically lost his home to a fire. KCBD reports that the flames spread throughout the house around 12:30 p.m. while he was out. It took the fire department nearly two hours to contain the fire.

Seminole Fire Department fire marshal Robert Barrett told the news, “A space heater for a pet was placed on the deck, and that deck being a wooden deck, it caught on fire.” Thankfully, the homeowner’s dogs are safe, and he was even able to save a family photo album, although the house itself will need to be completely torn down.

USA Today wrote in 2014 that space heaters were the “cause about one-third of all winter house fires and 80 percent of all winter heating fire deaths… Space heaters also account for more than 70 percent of all winter fire injuries and half of all property damage caused in heating fires.”

Often, there are flammable items located too closely to the heaters. Those who use space heaters should turn the units off when they’re not in use, stay in or near the room where the heater is located, and make sure nothing is too close to the heat that can catch on fire.