Toy battery causes fire in Penticton | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Penticton News

Toy battery causes fire in Penticton

Image Credit: FILE PHOTO

PENTICTON - A structure fire at a Johnson Road residence yesterday evening could have turned out much worse, if not for the quick actions of the homeowner.

Penticton Fire Department Deputy Chief Dave Spalding says both halls responded to the fire call with a six-man crew around 7 p.m. yesterday, Feb. 15.

The homeowner was able to extinguish the blaze with a garden hose prior to the fire department’s arrival.

Members checked the fire scene with a thermal imaging camera and conducted a preliminary investigation, which revealed the fire’s origin to be an overheated battery from a children’s toy that was being recharged.

“The potential was there for this to have been a major incident, but fortunately, it didn’t get going,” Spalding says.

Spalding cautions Penticton residents to ensure they follow manufacturers instructions and use only the adapters supplied with the unit when recharging electrical and electronic devices. He says adapters and chargers may look the same but vary widely in voltage and amperage. Use of the wrong unit could result in an overheated battery, which can be a potential fire hazard.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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