An outdated furnace caused a fire to erupt in a home attic last week in North Manhattan Beach resulting in $60,000 worth of damages, according to fire officials.
Firefighters responded at 5 a.m. on March 9 to a 1950s-era bungalow on the 700 block of Rosecrans Avenue, after a neighbor smelled smoke pouring out of the house and reported the blaze. The tenants renting the property were not home and no one was injured.
Redondo and Hermosa Fire departments assisted two Manhattan Beach Fire Department units in containing the fire to the attic and extinguished it in 12 minutes, according to MBFD Battalion Chief Frank Chiella. The structure sustained significant fire, smoke and water damage to the attic area and roof, Chiella said.
Officials said that heat from a “zero clearance” forced air furnace installed in the attic caused the fire, which Chiella said usually sits atop a piece of wood or other material, and was a popular retrofit in the 1980s and 1990s.
“The problem is they have no clearance under them, which gives them the name,” Chiella said. “When they run for a long time, whatever’s underneath them can catch fire.”
Chiella said that the MBFD hasn’t responded to a fire caused by a zero clearance furnace in at least a decade, since they’ve become largely unpopular after safety recalls were issued in California in 1999 and 2000 due to numerous attic fires caused by the units.
Officials suggested that any resident with a zero clearance furnace have it inspected by a licensed heating contractor and serviced annually, as well as provide an air space beneath it and cover the deck on which it’s mounted with a non-combustible material, such as sheet rock or dry wall and metal, that extends at least 12 inches past the sides of the furnace. They also recommended the installation of a smoke detector inside attics with furnaces.
Last month, MBFD firefighters extinguished a blaze that started in a dental office of a commercial building in the 1100 block of Highland Ave. Smoke damage spread to other units, resulting in what officials initially estimated to be $1 million in damages. At the time of the incident, officials were unsure whether the fire was an accident and launched an investigation into its origin. As of Tuesday, officials could not say what was the cause.
For further information please call the Manhattan Beach Fire Department, Fire Prevention Bureau at 310-802-5205. ER
