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| NewsTuesday, May 13, 2008 7:02 PM CDT |
Bird nests can be fire hazards, Bloomington family learns
BLOOMINGTON -- Katie Bowars of Bloomington wants other homeowners to heed some springtime advice: Even a bird’s nest can be dangerous -- and make sure you have a fire extinguisher. Fires caused by nests in electrical fixtures are all too common in the spring, said Bloomington Fire Capt. Steve Giusti. Homeowners should keep an eye on exposed electrical fixtures and re-check periodically. “They can build pretty quick,” he said. A Good Samaritan knocked on the door of the Bowars family’s Cygnet Crossing home around 8:45 p.m. Monday, telling her a fire was visible in a light fixture on her front porch. Her family didn’t have a fire extinguisher and the fire appeared to be spreading from the fixture, where birds had built a nest that had been there for weeks, she said. She called 911. Firefighters knocked it down fast, but there is some charring and firefighters had to chip away at the siding to get it under control, Bowars said. But Bowars is thankful someone spotted it before she got in the shower. Her husband was out and her two children -- Caden 5, and Chloe, 17 months -- were sleeping. Bowars said she wished she had cleaned out the fixture when she first noticed the bird’s nest, which apparently caused the fire. Bowars doesn’t know how much the repairs will cost yet, but she said she’ll make sure to have a fire extinguisher on hand in the future -- and never ignore a bird’s nest forming in a light fixture. “And the poor birds,” Bowars said Tuesday. “Now they’re just sitting on our gutter chirping, wondering where their home went.” |
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