KELSEYVILLE — A mattress fire and a miscalculation in dealing with it seems to have caused Tuesday”s blaze and explosion on Fairway, according to the investigation of the incident.
Kelseyville Fire Chief Howard Strickler said, “We spoke to the individual involved and upon further investigation of the site we determined that a smoldering bed mattress was the cause of the house fire. When the mattress was brought out to the deck, and then exposed to the breeze, it apparently ignited the stairwell, and the blaze escalated from there.”
In lining out the likely scenario of events, Strickler said the mattress was either already on fire or smoldering when it was dragged out to the deck by the renter, who was the only occupant in the house at the time. Afterwards, the renter went to the shower, and the mattress caught the stairwell on fire, which in turn spread to the roof and the structure itself.
Inside an oxygen bottle was eventually ignited, and it caused the explosion, Strickler said.
Strickler could only speculate on what caused the mattress to catch fire to begin with, but his belief was that smoking, possibly in the bed itself, was involved.
“I can”t really tell you for sure because the mattress was totally burned. There wasn”t much left of it to examine,” he said. Given the explosion, Strickler said it was fortunate there were no other injuries.
Strickler said insurance companies will investigate the incident next and determine losses. Otherwise, he said, human error, more than electrical shorts, natural events, or arson is still the leading cause of home fires.
“Even with all the education and fire safety efforts, human error is still the leading cause of these types of fires. Whether smoking is involved or other things, like the mishandling of fireplace ashes, gasoline, or the barbeque grill, people can still be fooled by smoldering ashes and debris,” Strickler said.
