In what the Los Angeles Times reports was a ‘freak event’ at a Fresno home last Sunday, sunlight bouncing off of a mirrored headboard discarded in the back of a home magnified the sun’s rays and started a fire that burned down the family carport.
“A mirror is pretty much like a big magnifying glass,” said a Fresno Fire Department spokesperson.
From the LA Times:
The family who lived in the home had left the headboard out in the back of the home in the 2300 block of Weller Street in Fresno. They were doing some spring cleaning. The large headboard was resting near a wood-framed carport that contained a vehicle and several boxes.
Just after 4 p.m., the mirrored headboard sparked the fire, Vasquez said. There’s no video evidence to prove this, he said, but “that was the only thing that makes any logical sense.”
It took about 25 firefighters roughly six minutes to put out the flames, which destroyed the vehicle and carport, but didn’t spread to the home.
The firefighters got a clue of the blaze’s cause when they felt radiant heat from the mirror, which also occasionally blinded them with the sun’s reflection, Vasquez said.
Investigators classified the fire as accidental, and estimated damage to be about $15,000.
Moral of the story? SPRING CLEANING KILLS.