East Fourth House Fire

This is my good friend Jimmy Spinner's house. It took somewhat of a hit on Saturday night, but thank God everyone got out safely including his mom. Still no word on what caused the fire, but we should have an answer soon.

You know as a homeowner you never think about a fire. I guess you sometimes think the your house is indestructible and made of stone. But what happened to Jimmy's house is a wake-up call, and you better believe that I checked all the smoke alarms and bought power strips for all my tenants to use soon after. That’s because these houses have some real old wiring, and using a power strip can sometimes prevent an overload on the socket. Basically the power strip will trip before anything else. And that’s a good indicator that there’s an overload.

Also please do not use any of those space heaters that have those bright orange coils that glow like a toaster. Those things can fall sideways and easily cause a fire.

Watch those burning candles along with smoking in bed and make sure your fire escape doesn’t have all kinds of junk on it that could block you from getting out quickly.

And if you are a landlord you better take some time to look at your insurance policy, because many people carry outdated policies that don’t cover as much as they should.

Don’t be so cheap, increase your coverage and spent a few extra bucks a year. These houses cost a lot more than 200,000 dollars if they need to be re-built.

Oh, and crank up the heat too, because this will prevent anyone in your house form using a space heater and overloading your very old brittle wires.

Now once again we do NOT know the cause of the fire over at Jimmy's house. But all of the suggestions I'm writing can certainly help prevent a fire in your house.

And just remember, these houses are made of wood not stone.

Ron Lopez