THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 9, 1997 TAG: 9701090313
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC R. QUINONES, ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: 54 lines
Halogen lamps offer powerful light and sleek looks at a relatively inexpensive cost.
Their sizzling bulbs can also start fires.
Blamed for a blaze that destroyed a Chesapeake man's townhouse last month and jazz great Lionel Hampton's Manhattan apartment on Tuesday, halogen lamps have bulbs that approach 1,000 degrees. Since 1992, the lamps have been tied to 100 fires and 10 deaths, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Underwriters Laboratories has become so concerned about the lamps that the testing group next month will enforce toughened standards for getting the UL seal of approval.
Exploding bulbs and torched drapes are among the dangers associated with popular models known as torchiere lamps - floor lamps that wash a room with light from an exposed tubular bulb atop a 6- or 7-foot pole. U.S. consumers own about 35 million to 40 million of them, the commission said.
Safety groups warn people not to leave the lamps near any combustible materials like drapes or bedding and not to keep the lamps on while unattended. Once the bulbs come in contact with something flammable, fire can strike suddenly and powerfully.
Kevin Cargill of Chesapeake said it was only minutes after he sent his two sons upstairs to bed one night last month that he saw black smoke pouring down the stairwell of their rented townhouse.
A blaze that firefighters said was ignited by a torchiere lamp trapped his sons and caused $25,000 to $75,000 in property damage, Cargill said. The boys were rescued by firefighters, and they emerged only with smoke inhalation.
Cargill said he was unaware of the lamp's potentially lethal power.
``There's no way I would have had a lamp like that in my house if I had known it was that volatile,'' he said.
The torchiere lamps range from about $13 to $40 at general retail stores. Some specialty lighting stores charge up to $1,000 for a range of halogen lights, including desk lamps, work lights or ceiling lights.
The 300-watt bulbs used in torchiere lamps can burn as hot as 970 degrees Fahrenheit, and other halogen bulbs can reach 1,200 degrees. A 150-watt incandescent bulb reaches about 340 degrees.
General Electric Co., which makes halogen replacement bulbs, said the bulbs come with appropriate warnings. But as the number of fires blamed on the bulbs has increased, safety watchdogs have boosted their efforts to inform people of the dangers.
Underwriters Laboratories will begin adding a new test to the dozens it runs on halogen bulbs. The lamps will have to be able to run for seven hours without burning a double layer of cheesecloth draped across the top.
``If any charring should occur . . . it's an automatic failure,'' spokeswoman Sandy Bedzis said.
KEYWORDS: HALOGEN LAMP FIRE