Lakewood home fire classified as ‘accident’
The Alpena Township Fire Department and a private investigator classified Sunday’s Lakewood Drive house fire as an accident.
Chief David Robbins said there were at least three different appliances. He’s referring to a coffee maker, lamp and fan that were plugged in and still in use.
“When I say appliances, I’m referring to anything that’s powered by electrics,” said Robbins. “In this instance, the area of origin we found a least three of those things. All of which were energized at the time of the fire which had the potential to cause or be the ignition source.”
The damage was so great, the township fire chief said investigators could not pin point which appliance set off the fire blaze.
Robbins said, “something we can do here is pointing out to people the importance of when they leave home” is making sure unused appliances are unplugged.
“You may shut them off, but even if they’re shut off, if they’re plugged in they’re still drawing power,” said the head of the Alpena Township Fire Department.
