Last month, there was a tragedy in my neighborhood. Early one morning I heard a small explosion, and seconds later, another one. I ran outside to see smoke pouring out the back of a nearby house. While I called 911, my next-door neighbor banged on the door. When the homeowners didn’t answer, he kicked the door open and found them on the phone frantically trying to call the fire department. He led them out.

It wasn’t until we had all huddled in the driveway that I heard a smoke alarm go off. I was surprised by how long it took. I was also surprised how little time it took for the house to be engulfed in flames.

Thirty-nine firemen and seven fire engines worked for almost an hour to suppress the fire. One firefighter hurt his back on the scene and a cat didn’t make its way to safety. The house was a total loss.

The fire marshal’s report stated that the suspected cause of the fire was electrical. It started in an area where a rechargeable, battery-operated string trimmer was plugged into multi-outlet strip. “The greatest amount of damage to the floor,” the report reads, “was in the area of the charger/transformer and plug strip.”

I called the fire marshal to get more information. He told me that the trimmer was a rechargeable model bought about two years ago, but he couldn’t recover the model number. The 6-plug outlet strip had a UL-listed mark, which means that it complied with safety standards. Although the fire marshal had never investigated a fire from rechargeable outdoor power equipment, he has seen several fires related to plug strips. He told me that their internal circuit breakers are often defective, which can lead to overheating and fires.

I learned a few lessons from observing the house fire that should serve as warning to us all:

• If there is a fire in your house, get yourself and your family out immediately. Don’t stop to call 911 or collect any belongings. Have neighbors call the fire department.
• Make sure your house is equipped with working smoke alarms—at least one on each floor and one in each bedroom. Dual sensor (photoelectric and ionization) models are best since they’re more likely to react quickly to most types of fires.
• Lots of products with rechargeable batteries have been recalled. Take care in handling and don’t overcharge a battery or try to charge a damaged one. Use only the recharger designed specifically for that product. Check Recalls.gov for any rechargeable product you own to make sure it hasn’t been recalled.
• Be careful when using plug strips. Only use models that have a safety certification mark from UL or ETL; the UL mark is on a holographic label. Also, make sure you don’t overload the strip by plugging in appliances that collectively exceed the maximum wattage rating.

—Don Mays