Sunlight shining through the clear base of this lamp caused nearby paper to catch fire.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kamloops Fire Rescue
February 04, 2021 - 6:00 PM
A little too much light was shed for a Kamloops resident who had a close call with lamp that touched off a fire yesterday.
An investigator with Kamloops Fire and Rescue was called to a home after a resident was having difficulty locating the source of a burning smell yesterday, Feb. 3.
Fire and life safety educator Jaime Chase says it turns out papers placed near a lamp were smouldering; set alight by sunlight magnified by clear spheres in the base of the lamp.
The situation was dealt with before the fire could grow, but Chase says it could easily have become a disaster.
"Had there been something more combustible, a breeze... if something flared up to catch on something else... every fire starts with a small point of ignition. It could have turned to a full structure fire," Chase says.
Fire officials have reached out to a supplier of the lamps to see about a warning being made.
"A lamp like this... don't position (them) in direct sunlight," he says.
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