When Sparks Fly

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Late yesterday afternoon, my friend and neighor, Jean Kornfeld, sat at her computer in the office of her beautifully renovated home. She heard a funny noise, and four minutes later, dozens of hunky firemen were running into the house with axes and hoses rushing to put out an electrical fire.

Jean has lived in this house for over 20 years, and during that time has turned it from funky to gorgeous. And she did everything right. She always used licensed contractors, and she always insisted on proper permits and inspections. There is a strong possibility the cause stemmed from a Pepco issue with wires coming from the street to her breaker box, but only time and careful investigations will determine the cause of the fire.

The house is a real mess. The fire went from the attic to the basement, and it moved very rapidly. They had to knock out walls, cut a hole in her new roof and pull up the recently refinished oak floors, They dumped thousands of gallons of water onto her Persian rugs, furniture and clothes. If Jean hadn’t been home when it started, the damage would have been much worse. Still, it will be many months before the house will be livable.

But I guess my point is, if this can happen to her, what about the rest of us? I’ve been to so many home inspections where much of the wiring was done without permits, and it appeared to have been done by an unlicensed ameteur or a serious drunk. And there were the many people who bought houses during the recent boom who didn’t even have home inspections and may not be aware of lurking hazards in their breaker boxes.

So Tuesday morning, I’m checking out electricians on Angie’s List. I have a window air conditioner that has been tripping my breaker box a couple of times a week, and there is a ceiling fan in the dining room that has issues. And maybe instead of just getting those items fixed, I’ll have the entire system checked out.

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