Are any of the following, fire hazards?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been thinking a lot about fire hazards lately. I have a college friend who recently lost everything in a house fire. Now, I worry about things starting fires.

Power strips?

Is it safe to leave a power strip resting on my couch? I like to hook up my laptop, personal and work phone, and a desklamp on a power strip in the family room. If left on long enough, it gets hot. I’m scared that I could fall asleep and the couch catch fire.

I can’t get any electricity in my bedroom. Long story as of “why”? In order to get power in my room, I have a train of three power strips leading from the living room. People have asked me if it is safe to do that. Well, I don’t know…

Leaving lights on all night?

I like to leave a few lights on in the house overnight to deter burglurs. I’m now wondering is that safe?

Leaving electronics on during lightning storms?

If lightning strikes something on the outside of the house, will the currents flow to the electronics inside my house and ignite?

Portable stoves and fire pits?

I’m thinking about getting portable stove for when I’m on the road and want to cook myself a hot meal. I’m considering getting a Biolite campstove 2, which I can set up a mini firepit and cook anywhere! “Anywhere” includes: rest area parking lots, urban parks, hotel courtyards, deep woods. If the campstove gets knocked over for some reason, how likely is it to light nearby structures on fire, such as cars or buildings?

Fireflies landing in gasoline?

As I was pumping gas the other night, I had an experience! You know how when you’re pumping gas, sometimes a little gas puddles outside the tank opening? I had a little puddle. Right before I closed the lid, I noticed a bug near my tank opening. I took the gas nozzle to try and remove it. The bug fell into that little puddle of gasoline, and then lit up. I freaked out! I quickly used the nozzle again, to scoop the bug away as fast as I could! I’ve never heard of fireflies starting fires, but I wanted to get it away from my gas tank. Anything lighting up in gasoline can’t be a good thing!

2

I’ll let someone else address your other questions, but I’ll let you know that it is IMPOSSIBLE for a firefly to set anything on fire by lighting up. Their light production produces no heat and is entirely contained in their little backsides.

3
  • Power strips: probably low, but depends on the strip and what you have plugged in. If it’s older, it’s more likely to have a short somewhere. “Getting hot” is not a good sign - that probably means it’s either old and has a problem, or you’re drawing too much power through it. Get a higher-rated strip (and make sure your circuit can handle the load), or plug in fewer things.
  • Chaining power strips: fairly low, but not a good idea. Each connection is another possible failure point, so get a cord long enough to reach. The risk here goes to high if you’re plugging in multiple things at each strip, but it sounds like you aren’t branching at each connection.
  • Lights on: low if they are incandescent, extremely low for LED.
  • Electronics in a storm: it doesn’t matter if they’re on or not. Leaving them plugged in puts them at risk of damage from a surge, but it isn’t really an increased fire risk.
  • Portable stoves: low to extremely high, depending on where you do it. If it’s near something that can catch on fire, then yes, that thing will probably catch on fire if you knock the stove over.
  • Fireflies: for real? No, they do not actually have fire in their butt.
4

I’m sorry, my firefly comment was a little snarky for a new member (welcome!). To elaborate on Broomstick’s comment, the chemical reaction that creates a firefly’s light is one of the most efficient light-generating reactions - nearly 100% of the energy is released as light, essentially none of it as heat. There is no spark that could cause ignition in a flammable substance.

5

Can’t imagine a hotel would want you using a portable stove or fire pit on their property, whether or not it could be kicked over. Guests are paying for ambiance and campers detract from that.

Most rest stops have signs saying that grills aren’t allowed. A few have permanently installed ones available.

Some parks allow no fire of any kind due to wildfire risks, many allow campfires and grills in identified, designated areas. Wilderness and undeveloped parks allow fires only in certain types of places, strictly regulated in types of use, extinguishing, etc. I would find out going in what is allowed and follow that to the letter.

Tents regularly are destroyed by fires from portable stoves. Tents are often of flammable materials and wind blown sparks are common With fires and portable stoves. Extreme caution needed there.

6

Former safety officer here. I rate you based on the OSHA regs:

  • Wilful violation - Power strip sitting on a flammable surface - $14,000 fine.
  • Wilful violation - Daisy chaining power strips - $14,000 fine per power strip chained.
  • Wilful violation - Failure to fix by abatement date - $14,000 fine per day.

Repeat any of the above at a subsequent inspection - Fines escalate from $14,000 per each incident to $135,000 each.

  • Run your power strip on the floor, using lower power items only.

  • Need to get power to a distant location? Use a properly rated extension.

  • Never use a power strip or extension with a toaster, coffee pot, room heater, or anything that has a motor (like a fan). All must be directly connected to the wall outlet.

  • Get LED light bulbs.

  • Unplug electronics when not being used. (Lightning is weird. Years ago at home it struck a pole a quarter mile away, traveled down the wires bypassing at least five houses and entered our home. Blew out a TV set.

Campfires and fire stoves - Never left unattended. Never as in NEVER. If your campfire starts a wildfire, you pay the costs. Think tens of thousands to millions.

Sorry if this sounds harsh. When it comes to safety, we legally could not give a Mulligan for any offense.

7

A power strip should NEVER get warm unless it’s from being out in the sun. If it’s getting warm from the load of a couple laptop/phone chargers and a lamp, something is really wrong.

Ignoring the building code violations, for getting power to the bedroom, chaining plug strips together is a bad idea. A single heavy duty (12 or 14 gage) extension cord would be safer. Some even have multiple sockets.

We’ve got time…what’s the story with no power in the bedroom?

8

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard something like this about heaters and toasters and such, but not about fans. Could you elaborate on this rule? Especially for fans, which are bit ubiquitous in the summer and some of which seem small and innocuous but which still have motors.

9

To add to what Broomstick said, it takes a temperature of several hundred degrees to ignite gasoline, far higher than the survivable temperature of any insect or its body organs.

10

I think you are going to run afoul of laws, regulations, rules, and policies if you try to use that thing in any of the places you listed. I think you would be OK in a campground.

11

Consider engine block cooking.

12

Yeah, anything with an open flame will run into restrictions. You’d probably be better off with a gas canister stove, but even then you’ll have to check local regulations. They’re much quicker and easier to set up/break down, and they cook much faster.

13

Ok, I’ll replace the power strip that heats up, and get a good one at home depot mentioned above.

I will be using my portable stove at places like comfort inn and not 5 star hotels. I don’t think ambiance will be an issue.

I would never leave a fire unattended. There’s people who do that? :o

Regulations have crossed my mind. I’m planning to use the portable fire pit in unincorporated areas where it is the “wild west”.

It’s good to know that fireflies cannot cause fires! I wonder why they are called fireflies? That’s misleading!

Story behind my bedroom having no electricity? Fuse box dysfunction. When I tried to correct it, by watching YouTube videos, I damn near killed myself.

14

Unincorporated areas can still catch fire. They therefore still have fire regulations.

– other regulations may also apply. Just because you’re out in the country doesn’t mean you’re outside the law.

15

“The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” -Mark Twain

16

That sounds like a serious problem that should be addressed. Are you the owner or do you rent? If you own, hire a qualified electrician ASAP. If you rent, contact your landlord, I’m sure they are violating their certificate of occupancy.

I’ll chime in that I wanted an extension cord to plug in an inflatable halloween decoration last fall, and was surprised and what excellent choices I could find on-line, including ones rated to sit in the wet grass. (although we unplugged it when not in use anyway.)

I’ll also say that while leaving electronics plugged in during a power storm isn’t a significant fire hazard, it does significantly increase the risk that a surge will fry your electronics. We lost a modem, a phone, and some of the functionality of a laptop when lightning (we think) hit the phone line. Our next door neighbor lost their burglar alarm system, and had an old tube-based TV implode, as well as losing some other stuff from the same strike. The neighbor on their other side also lost some electronics that night.

Scary as all get out to be awakened by nearby lightening!

17

Some hotels will allow you to put a camp stove or a hibachi in the parking lot. However, it’s usually against the municipal fire code, so always ask permission first.

18

I once bought an 87c extension cord at Walmart, with three labels on it, listing a total of 26 different safety warnings. Keep pets away (good luck). Unplug when not in use (like when I turn off my reading light in bed, by crawling under the bed). I don’t pay much attention to safety warnings anymore.