Motorman355

Not here. Read this while I'm up here in Maryland. It's something I didn't want to see. I knew about the dimmers, but didn't know about timers. Since I'm away for two months, I plugged two lamps with CFLs into timers. I hope I have a place to come home to.

Published: April 30, 2008 09:36 am

Blaze underscores need for CFL bulb education

CUMBERLAND - When Rick Jenkins began replacing the common, incandescent bulbs around his house with compact fluorescent lamps about 12 months ago, he didn't give much thought about saving the environment.

Instead, the truck driver just wanted to stop buying light bulbs so often. Any environmental benefit, he figured, was a side effect.

That was then. A week has passed since a fire destroyed his split-level home on View Crest Drive. Rick Jenkins, wife Angie and 6-year-old daughter, Haley, lost everything but their family pooch, a 2-year-old goldendoodle. Fire investigators determined the fire was caused by a CFL connected to a dimmer switch. Packaging on many types of CFLs includes a warning not to connect them to dimmer switches. Now, just the notion of twisting in the curlycue bulbs is a real-life nightmare.

"I wouldn't recommend them to anyone," Jenkins said Monday afternoon, bearing a strong odor of smoke after meeting with contractors at the site of the fire. "They aren't worth the cost."

Damage to the Jenkins home is estimated at $165,000. While friends and loved ones are aiding the family, Jenkins is a bit in awe about how the fire started in the first place.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Jason Mowbray said CFL-related fires are "certainly not a trend."

"I had it unofficially reported to me that even nationally, very few of these incidents are known to have occurred," said Mowbray, adding he has more than a half dozen CFLs installed in his home. "Certainly there's a lot of variables and considerations that go into any of these types of situations.

Jenkins said many packages containing CFLs promote in large letters they can replace a "standard" light bulb. The fine print, however, includes some of the conditions in which they must be operated.

Great Value, a Wal-Mart brand, first lists on its packaging that the bulbs could cause interference to "radios, televisions and wireless devices. Also, "do not install near maritime safety communications or other critical navigation or communication equipment operating between 0.45 and 30 megahertz."

Only after the maritime warning does the packaging warn that outdoor lights must be enclosed and not to use them with "emergency exit fixtures or lights, electronic timers, photocells or dimmers."

Philips brand CFLs also include warnings on the outside of the package while GE prints a warning on the bulb itself. On much of GE's packaging, the bulb can be seen without having to be opened.

Despite a very difficult week, Jenkins doesn't blame the light bulb for the fire. He said he's "not the type" to file a lawsuit over the issue but that people should be careful - and read the warning label - when buying anything that gets plugged in.