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Inside Out

Simply too close for comfort

Jeanne Sager
Posted 10/19/21

It started simply enough. A hair clipper plugged into the bathroom outlet to be used, a quick haircut, and then the clipper was forgotten. As a family we each left for the day to do whatever it was …

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Inside Out

Simply too close for comfort

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It started simply enough. A hair clipper plugged into the bathroom outlet to be used, a quick haircut, and then the clipper was forgotten. As a family we each left for the day to do whatever it was each of us had to do on a Saturday — the teen to work, me to a photo shoot, my husband tagging along with me to lend a hand. For hours we were gone. For hours the clipper motor ran on the bathroom floor. By the time the first family member arrived home, the motor had begun to smoke, and the clipper had already singed the bathroom floor. We were lucky they got home before it went further. Consumer Reports estimates 150,000 home fires are started by appliances annually — everything from fridges down to hair dryers. As we head into peak home fire season — they generally increase during fall and winter as we move inside, light candles to make things more festive and turn on heaters to get more cozy — the black mark on the bathroom floor is my reminder of how the smallest thing can just as easily be the most dangerous. And yet all it takes is being just a little bit more careful: Unplugging those clippers. Blowing out those candles. Staying nearby when something's cooking on the stove. It starts simply. But it can end simply too.

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