When I’m not doing radio or voice over work, I’m also a Volunteer Firefighter. I’ve been on the department for 8 years now and I still love it like I started yesterday.
Today I responded to an alarm for “Smoke In The Building” at a residential address. When we arrived on scene we went inside to investigate and found no smoke but surface evidence of burning on the drywall.
Upon further investigation it appeared that the burning was caused by faulty wiring. Using a thermal imaging camera we detected obvious signs of heat. We removed a small section of the drywall to investigate further and were surprised at what we found… nothing!
Behind the drywall there was no wiring. There was also no evidence of fire or burn marks on the insulation or back side of the drywall. On one hand this was a good thing. No fire in the walls is always good news. However, it left us with a single lingering question… where was the heat coming from and what caused the burn marks in the drywall.
The short version is simply this, the home owner had a makeup mirror that we had moved when we came into the room. After placing that mirror back in it’s normal position we were somewhat amused and relieved to discover the cause of the burns.
That mirror was directly in front of a window, and the backside of that mirror was reflecting, and magnifying sunlight directly onto the wall in the exact location of the burn marks.
Remember when you were a kid with a magnifying glass burning ants, burning leaves, burning grass? Apparently if you’re not careful with where you put on your makeup everyday you can nearly burn down your home too!!!
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