Lynn FD sounds warning about candle use following minor fire

LYNN – Fire investigators said a quickly extinguished candle fire in a Johnson Street apartment Tuesday underscores why decorative and sweet-smelling flames can be dangerous, even deadly.Residents had already used water to put out a fire ignited on a bureau top by a burning candle when firefighters arrived at 89 Johnson St. after 11 a.m.No one in the second-floor apartment was hurt and fire investigator Donald Baron said working smoke detectors alerted occupants to the fire. But Baron called the Johnson Street residents “very lucky” and said candles on bedroom bureaus can be a dangerous combination.Baron said bureau tops are frequently places where people put perfumes and nail polish – products with flammable contents – as well as paper.”If you are going to burn a candle – always put it in a bowl or a dish. Once the candle burns down, the glass holder can heat up and fracture and wax will burn whatever it is on top of,” Baron said.Baron said candles should not be placed in plastic holders, left within reach of children or pets or left to burn unattended in a room.”It’s absolutely a threat,” he said.The state Department of Fire Services warned last December that candle use during holidays is often linked to fires. In 2012, according to department statistics, investigators identified candles as the source of 126 fires. Seven people were hurt in the fires, not including eight firefighters injured responding to the fires.”Over one-third started in the bedroom,” the department stated in a press release.