Wall Mounted Heater Warning When Power Restored

Cookeville Mayor Ricky Shelton warned residents about the dangers of old heaters turning on when power gets restored.

Fire Chief Daryl Blair said the danger in this is that many residents think their wall mounted heaters no longer work. However, Blair said when power is restored, the heaters may come on.

“They think that they’re off and they’ll put furniture in front of them to hide them,” Blair said. “Because they were just mounted on the wall, we have had several cases over the years where they have kicked back on and of course, that is where the fire was started.”

Blair said these wall mounted heaters are not efficient if they are still being used. He said if they are not being used, he recommends having an electrical professional come in to ensure the heaters are disconnected.

Blair said they have not had to respond to any fire calls involving these heaters yet, during this weeks outages. He said the only fire call the department has received is a chimney fire, with no injuries.