Overheated furnace starts deadly fire

NFPA Journal, Sep/Oct 2006 by Tremblay, Kenneth

PENNSYLVANIA-A 47-year old woman and a 2-year-old boy were fatally injured in an early-morning fire that began when a furnace in the second-floor storage area of their 1?-story home overheated.

The single-family, wood-frame house, which 54 feet (16 meters) long and 26 feet (8 meters) wide, had an asphalt roof. There were no smoke alarms or sprinklers.

The woman called the fire department at 4:00 a.m. Responding firefighters rescued the two victims, who were trapped in their second-floor bedroom, but both died of smoke inhalation three days later.

Investigators determined that the horizontal furnace overheated and ignited the combustible flooring. Once the fire started, it spread to the home's structural framing and attic voids around the bedroom where the victims where sleeping.

The house, valued at $25,300, was a total loss.