Compact fluorescent light bulb to blame for Hornell fire

The Hornell Evening Tribune ^ | December 23, 2010 | Andrew Poole

[NRG1973]

A compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) is to blame for an accidental electrical fire in Hornell Wednesday morning, said Steuben County Fire Investigator Joe Gerych.

“Those are the lights everybody’s been telling us to use,” he said. “It blew up like a bomb. It spattered all over.”

A CFL on the ceiling burst, said Gerych, and gas inside the CFL bulb helped start the fire. He added exploding CFLs are rare.

The North Hornell Fire Department responded to a call from the McNeill residence, 7185 N. Main St. Ext., Hornellsville, a little before 7 a.m. Wednesday, said North Hornell Fire Chief Mike Robbins.

[NRG1973]

At least they saved a few watts before their house burned down.

[Revolting cat!]

One less environment polluting structure on Mother Gaia.

[Christian Engineer Mass]

Ka-ching!

[The Antiyuppie]

Yeah, but it generated a lot of heat - for a while. It also helped get rid of excess housing stock!

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

I’ve had at least two sputter and spark before burning out LONG BEFORE the life stated on the package.

[wastedyears]

Congress mandates people buy light bulbs with mercury in them. Some intrepid Congressman better introduce an incontestable bill to freeze the salary of Congress near the poverty level.

[popdonnelly]

We’d save ourselves a lot of pain and money if we didn’t have to use these things.

[mowowie]

Forget the fire, What about the MERCURY!!!
OMG!

[Parmy]

Speaking of heat, I have replaced hundreds of the factory, wrapped, safety style flourescent bulbs that have burned out and nearly caused fires. The ends got so hot that they were discolored and brittle from the heat. Also, they burned out some ballasts and tombstones(the holders at each end of the bulb.)

[Diogenesis]

"Are you all really that stupid?"

[Magic Fingers]

“A CFL on the ceiling burst, said Gerych, and gas inside the CFL bulb helped start the fire. He added exploding CFLs are rare.”

And how would he know that it’s “rare”?

[FormerACLUmember]

AND dumped super-toxic mercury into the air as the bulb exploded, starting the fire!

[mickie]

I am stocking up on regular old fashioned light bulbs.

[Kenny500c]

Stock up on the incandescent bulbs at the dollar store, 4 for a buck, while they are still available.

[MHGinTN]

Home Depot about a month ago had them sixteen for four dollars and change. I bought what I think I’ll need for the rest of my years.

[WOBBLY BOB]

Can those be stored anywhere? (like an attic that gets really hot and really cold)

[mickie]

These crazy new fangeled bulbs are made in China......and I read about an American company who made light bulbs for a century, a family business, that had to close their doors.
Putting more people out of work.
Does this make any sense?

[allmost]

Yeah, they don't quite live up to the stated lifetime. I seem to replace them more often than incandescents. Archaeologists in the future will define this insane age by the thin layer of mercury covering everything and inside everyone IMO.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

The lifespan of a CFL bulbs largely depends on how often it's turned off and on. If you turn your lights out, on leaving the room (as we've all been told to do, countless times) — your CFL bulbs will burn out long before the numbers of hours use touted on the package.

I once combined a screw-in light sensor switch with a CFL bulb porch light. I had to replace the bulb in a couple of weeks. Then I noticed the problem. The sensor switch turned the CFL bulb on, when the sun was setting. Then the light from the bulb caused the sensor to turn the bulb off again. And so on — for about 20 minutes, until it got dark enough to end the cycle. The switching on and off reduced the life of the CFL bulb from an advertised 8,000 hours to about 150 hours.

[reagan_fanatic]

I’ve got CFL’s throughout my house, but I didn’t do it because it’s better for the environment (it’s not) or because Big Brother told me to. I did it to save money on my utility bill. Buy the right ones (I buy GE only) and they seem to last quite a long time, have a nice color and use a lot less electricity. I have never had one spark or blow up.

Whether you choose CFL’s or not should be up to you, not the government.