Property damage and loss of lives, these are usually the results of fires. But did you know that one of the number one factors behind fire is electricity? Home electric fires claim the lives of just about five hundred North Americans every year and harm another 2300. Yearly, these fires result in over $800 million in property losses.

Roughly one 3rd of the just about seventy thousand home electronic fires that happen every year are traceable to design and producing defects in electrical products. The rest are a result of the misuse and poor upkeep of electric products, overloaded circuits and extension cords, and incorrectly installed wiring. The 3 elements that have to be present for a fire to manifest and sustain itself are quite well known.

These elements make up the “Fire Triangle,” a probably lethal combo of heat, fuel, and oxygen. If any one of these three parts is missing from the triangle, a fire can not be started or sustained. In the case of an electric fire, it’s electricity that creates the heat component of the Fire Triangle.

How does electricity make a contribution to fires? One example would be an overloaded extension wire. Homeowners are infrequently not aware that extension cords must be sized suitably for their final use. If not, they can overheat, especially if they’re damaged. Damage to cords can spring from a plethora of factors, from factory production blunders to kinking when heavy furniture is carelessly placed on top of them.

The same principle is still true for electric products. If their internal wiring or an element is insufficiently sized or damaged, overheating can result. If things get hot enough and there’s sufficient airflow (oxygen) and flammable material (fuel) in the neighborhood, then the fire triangle is complete. The fire starts internally and can shortly spread to other objects in the area.

Electric arcing can happen when an energized electric circuit is damaged. For instance, suspect a wire carrying current is all of a sudden damaged in 2. If the voltage is high enough, the electricity will want to continue to flow thru the air across the break to form an electric arc. If the power flowing thru the arc is great enough, heat can once more complete the Fire Triangle, leading to fire. Forensic engineering research of proof picked up from a fire scene regularly yields revealing signals of overheating due to overloaded electric circuits or damaged wiring in parts. Under close inspection by a professional pro, even the tiniest strand of wire can point at the cause of an electric fire.