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October 29, 2005
FIRE!
Last winter, when I started posting items from newspapers around the country, I thought that I was seeing an awful lot of stories about fires in condos. We're barely into the new heating season and already I'm seeing them again. I don't have any statistics to back this up, but I'm starting to feel that condos may just be a little more fire-prone than similarly-aged housing. And, I think some of this has to do with the feeling on the part of the unit owners, that the association is responsible for just about everything.
In talking to a few managers, I found that they often see chimneys that haven't been cleaned, furnaces that haven't been checked, hot water tanks with flammables stored near them. This may have been the same way owners took care of things when they lived in a single family home, or it may be that they have just become more lax since moving to an association where so much is done for them.
In any event, fires in condos rarely stop inside one unit. This is a good time for associations to remind owners of what items they should be checking, cleaning and fixing. I've seen associations that have contracted to have chimney's cleaned, even though it was a unit owner responsibility. Talk to your attorney to see if you can require evidence of an annual furnace inspection? Talk to your insurance agent and fire department about providing materials to help people identify fire risks. Offer to help seniors or elderly people living alone with "winterizing" their home and then look for potential fire hazards.
One association, with a number of seniors living alone, took the rare step of collecting donations from various people and groups and purchased electric kettles and coffee makers with automatic shut-offs, to hopefully prevent that tea kettle being forgotten on the stove.
If you have some tips or things you've tried, we'd be happy to print them on the site. Have a safe and warm winter.
Posted by joewest at October 29, 2005 2:34 PM