Fire Injuries

The Threat of Home Electrical Fires

February 19, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

Imagine you are out for the evening, perhaps enjoying dinner and a movie. You drive home and begin to notice emergency vehicles as you approach your neighborhood. As you draw closer, your fears are realized when you see your home ablaze. Fires can cause financial damages, although the biggest economic costs all pale compared to the threat of injury or death (imagine how the fear would grow if you had left your child at home). In this post, we’ll discuss one particular type of fire, electrical fires, and discuss the importance of prevention as well as the services our Oakland fire injury lawyer can provide when tragedy does occur.

Antioch Fire Claims Home

On Monday night, as reported in the Oakland Tribune, fire erupted at a home on the 5100 block of Furlong Way in Antioch. Neighbors alerted officials to the blaze around 9:45 P.M. as fire engulfed both floors of a 22 year-old, two-story, suburban home. Fire Marshal Lewis Broschard said that the fire threatened to spread to a neighboring home, but a team of eighteen firefighters got it under control by 10:24 P.M. The home’s residents appeared to be out when the fire started, which may explain the size of the fire and how it went undetected until it was fairly large. No injuries occurred and damage estimates were not available at the time of the report.

San Bruno to CPUC: Stop Dragging Your Feet on Disclosure of Public Records

February 7, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

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It has been three years and five months since the catastrophic gas line explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people, injured 66 others and devastated a neighborhood. Bay Area personal injury attorney Gregory J. Brod is among those people who would hope that the government agencies responsible for oversight of the disaster and Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the company that caused it, would be forthcoming with sharing germane public records. But judging by a lawsuit that was filed this week, the key agency in question, the California Public Utilities Commission, is not moving fast enough for the city at the center of the Sept. 9, 2010, conflagration.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the city of San Bruno filed a lawsuit in San Mateo Superior Court on Tuesday against the CPUC seeking to force the agency to release public records on the explosion. The city is demanding that the CPUC release the documents in order to comply with the California Public Records Act as well as four separate requests that it has made for documents pertaining to the CPUC’s deliberations on the fine it contemplated against PG&E.

San Bruno officials believe that the documents will detail improper conduct at the CPUC regarding the fine, which has not yet been imposed, as well as a too-cozy relationship between the agency and the utility it is supposed to regulate.

“We believe the PUC is deliberately withholding information that would embarrass the agency,” said San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson. “This is an issue of accountability and transparency.”

San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane was particularly concerned about the relationship between the CPUC and PG&E.

“We are concerned the leadership of the CPUC is in the pocket of the utility company it is supposed to regulate,” Ruane said Tuesday at a news conference on the steps of the courthouse after the lawsuit was filed. “Our lawsuit calls for full transparency so that the people of San Bruno and the citizens of California can be confident about the integrity of this penalty process against PG&E.

And San Bruno City Attorney Marc Zafferano posed this interesting question when he complained, “Ten months after making a series of public records requests, the CPUC has refused to comply, leading us to question what the agency is trying to hide.”
The CPUC’s response as to why it has not released the records: It’s been “very busy” and would respond “when it had free time.”

More specifically, according to the San Francisco Examiner, the CPUC says that it has the right to withhold the documents under the deliberative process privilege exemption of the state Public Records Act, which was imposed by the California Supreme Court in 1991. The Supreme Court ruled that “the key question in every case is whether disclosure of the materials would expose an agency’s decision-making process in such a way as to discourage candid discussion with the agency and thereby undermine the agency’s ability to perform its functions.”
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Landlord Liability for Home Fires

January 1, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

It can happen in a matter of minutes. A house fire can engulf a residence, causing extensive property damage, burn or smoke-related injuries, and even death. All too often, home fires are the result of careless decision-making characterized by people taking unnecessary and unwarranted risks that often involve neglecting safety to save a little bit of money. As a San Francisco tenant injury lawyer, Attorney Brod has helped many renters who were left facing the consequences of their landlord’s dangerous choices.

Fire Injures One, Leaves Four Others Displaced in Hayes Valley

2013 came to a terrifying close for residents of a home in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the one-alarm fire erupted at 5:42 A.M. on December 31 on the second-story of a residence on the 600 block of Fulton Street. Authorities say that one resident was taken to the hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries. Four others who were also displaced by the fire are receiving assistance from the American Red Cross. The cause of the blaze could not be immediately identified.

Fire Injury Lawyer Urges Caution to Prevent Home Heating Fires this Holiday Season

December 24, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

It is one of the “warmest” symbols of the holiday season, stockings hung and a family gathered around a blazing fireplace (hot cocoa is optional). Fires can be beautiful and part of the beauty lies in their sheer power. Sadly, this same power can cause tragedy when fires burn out of control, a fact some area families know all too well this holiday. When home fires are the result of defective products, including the particularly common threat of space heater fires, our Oakland home fire injury lawyer is available to help.

Two Oakland Blazes Serve as a Reminder of the Danger of Home Fires

Two separate Oakland fires have left 15 people homeless in the days just prior to Christmas 2013, according to the Oakland Tribune’s reports. On the 1600 block of Fifth Avenue in Lake Merritt, a candle ignited an apartment fire that spread to two other residential units, leaving all three apartments uninhabitable and also causing minor damage to a liquor store in the building. A second fire struck a home in the 3000 block of Logan Street in the Fruitvale district. Officials believe a cigarette may have sparked some trash behind the house. Thankfully, residents at both locations were able to escape safely, with only one person requiring at-the-scene treatment for smoke inhalation.

Propane Explosions: The Danger, The Causes, and Your Legal Rights

November 15, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

Propane gas has a wide range of consumer uses including heating a home, providing hot water, or firing up a grill. Its flammability is essential to its value, but it is also makes it extremely dangerous. Propane explosions are a continuing threat and can lead to severe injury or even death. Our Sacramento fire injury attorney can help the injured or the grieving, whether it is through a product liability suit or a premises liability action. We can help after the fact, but we will always believe that prevention should come first and that it is better to avoid an accident than to reassemble the pieces after a tragedy.

Elk Grove Teen in Critical Condition After Propane Explosion

It was early Thursday morning when an explosion rocked the Elk Grove community. As reported by the Sacramento Bee, a call came in to the Cosumnes Fire Department at 7:37 A.M. reporting a trailer fire in the city located just south of Sacramento. Fire crews arrived at 8572 Alpine Blue Court where an explosion had damaged two homes in addition to the trailer. Responders also found a badly burned 16 year-old boy and transported him to UC Davis Medical Center in critical condition. Investigators believe the explosion originated from a propane tank used as a water heater for a camper-style trailer.

Heat Is on Tesla Motors After Company Linked to Yet Another Fire-Related Accident

November 13, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

If autumn is typically considered the height of the fire season in California, this fall has been a veritable tinderbox of pyro-related problems for Tesla Motors, especially after the electric-car maker experienced a fire at its plant in Fremont on Wednesday. The incident is an example of where Bay Area personal injury attorney Gregory J. Brod stands ready to represent anyone who has suffered a burn injury or harmed in an industrial accident or defective products case.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, on Wednesday three employees at Tesla’s plant in Fremont suffered moderate to serious burns or other possible injuries – one worker’s condition is still being evaluated – while they were working with pressurized equipment after an aluminum casting press failed, causing hot metal from the press to injure the employees.

Model S Troubles on Highways
The Wednesday blaze is the latest in a series of fire-related woes to befall the Palo Alto-based Tesla Motors. On Nov. 9, the driver of a Model S struck a tow hitch on Interstate 24 near Murfreesboro, Tenn., which damaged the automobile’s undercarriage and sparked a fire. That incident prompted a call from Clarence Ditlow, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to launch an investigation. The NHTSA had declined to investigate an earlier fire involving a Tesla sedan that occurred Oct. 1 in Washington state.
In the Washington state incident last month, a Model S burst into flames while it was traveling on Route 167 near Seattle when, according to the driver, the vehicle hit some debris on the road. The automotive blaze prompted concern over Tesla’s battery technology and sent the company’s stock plunging after a YouTube video quickly surfaced that recorded the incident.

Between the incidents in Washington state and Tennessee, another accident involving a Tesla Model S occurred in Mexico. With three crashes in six weeks, it stands to reason that there would be sentiment for investigations and even a recall, but Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk stated on Monday that media coverage of fires involving cars manufactured by his company were overblown and that Tesla will not implement a product recall for the Model S.

The Severe Consequences of Burns to the Skin
While automobile company executives may feel that media coverage of fires that start in their products may be overblown, it’s hard to exaggerate the injuries that result from serious burns, suffered either in an industrial setting or while one is a motorist or passenger of a vehicle that catches fire. The skin acts as the body’s first line of defense against bacteria and viruses, and it is a complex structure that helps to regulate its temperature as well as the amount of fluid it contains. Within the skin one also finds a complex network of blood vessels and nerves. So when the body suffers a burn – anywhere from a first-degree burn to, most seriously, a third-degree burn – essentially a breach has occurred in the body’s defenses, opening the way for serious complications as well as scars, both physical and emotional.
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Be Aware of Halloween Dangers

October 29, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

For many, fright is part of the fun on Halloween. However, the best fear is controlled; a scare that comes while knowing one is ultimately safe and secure. Attention to Halloween safety is crucial to ensuring that the thrills and chills don’t turn into true danger. There are many elements to a safe October 31st and this post will focus on only two of the many safety issues: the threat of burn injuries and the danger to pedestrians on Halloween. Both of these topics are of great concern to our San Francisco injury attorney and we encourage victims of either threat to call our firm if someone else’s negligence contributed to your injury.

Halloween Burn Injuries

Burn injuries are one of the biggest threats to a safe Halloween celebration. Despite a federal law requiring costumes meet flame-resistance standards, flammable costumes remain a real threat. ABC News references 16 costume-related burn injuries since 1980, including a twelve year old who died after a brush with a lit pumpkin caused her costume to ignite. These numbers likely fail to account for fires blamed on other causes, including fires started by decorative items. Halloween is, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, one of the top five days for fires sparked by candles in the U.S. Preventing fires and burns requires vigilance. We also believe that using product liability laws to hold companies liable for unsafe products will also help prevent future burn injuries.

Victims of Redwood City Blaze, as in Many Fires, Caught by Surprise

October 17, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

California is a land of great beauty and opportunity, but it is also a state renowned in a less-flattering way for its earthquakes and seasonal brush fires. While seasonal brush fires, often preceded by dry, relatively hot and tinderbox conditions, tend to be more predictable than earthquakes, fires that strike residential communities are much more prone to erupt without any warning and are by no means limited to the Golden State. And when fires rip through homes to destroy possessions or cause serious injuries or even death, San Francisco Bay Area attorney Gregory J. Brod stands ready to help the victims of fires in Northern California.

One extensive building fire early Thursday gave residents of a 75-unit apartment complex in Redwood City one of the most frightening early-morning rude awakenings possible at about 5:15 a.m., according to a report from the San Jose Mercury News. The six-alarm fire, which caused the roof of the four-story building to collapse with flames bursting skyward from the top floor, led to a mass exodus of residents as firefighters arrived on the scene. Many of the residents fled to safety by climbing down balconies or even rappelling to the ground from the fourth floor. Four people were injured, and four others are unaccounted for, but they were believed to be away on vacation. Twenty fire engines and more than 100 firefighters were required to subdue the blaze, which was largely extinguished by 9 a.m.

While the apartment building had smoke alarms it wasn’t fitted with a sprinkler system because, according to Redwood City Fire Marshal Jim Palisi, the structure was built in 1988 before a state law requiring sprinkler systems was enacted.

“I guarantee if this building had been sprinklered this wouldn’t have happened,” Parisi told the Mercury News.

The basis for Parisi’s assertion that the presence of sprinkler systems helps prevent building fires is rooted in some convincing statistics from the National Fire Protection Association, including these findings from a report issued in June 2013:

Of all reported structure fires in the United States from 2007 through 2011, only 10 percent involved buildings with installed sprinkler systems.
Sprinkler systems were present in 47 percent of all high-rise apartment buildings where 2007-11 fires were reported in the United States.
Sprinklers operated in 91 percent off all 2007-11 reported structure fires in the United States.
When sprinklers operated in 2007-11 reported structure fires in the United States, they were effective 96 percent of the time.
There was a combined effectiveness of 87 percent when sprinklers were present and fires were large enough to activate them during all 2007-11 reported structure fires in the United States.

The much lower figure for the presence of sprinklers in all buildings across the nation overall is due to the fact that they are still rare in many categories of buildings, including educational properties (36 percent of fires), stores and offices (24 percent of fires), public assembly properties (23 percent of fires) and most notably homes (six percent of fires), where most fire-caused fatalities occur. Indeed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 85 percent of all fire deaths in the United States in 2009 occurred in homes. The CDC also reminds us that most victims of fires die from smoke or toxic gas inhalation, not from burns. The CDC also makes it clear that while smoking is the leading cause of fire-related deaths, cooking is the primary cause of residential fires.
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Yerba Buena Island Fire: Reminder of Danger of Fireworks

October 7, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

A curious twist has surfaced from Sunday’s traffic-snarling fire on Yerba Buena Island as a San Francisco Fire Department official stated that the SFFD received telephone calls suggesting fireworks may have sparked the blaze. There were no reported casualties caused by the fire, but it may surprise people to know that fireworks are responsible for a significant number of injuries every year in the United States, a fact that raises burn injury, products liability and negligence issues thatSan Francisco attorney Gregory J. Brod has experience with.

Sunday’s fire on Yerba Buena Island erupted about 8 p.m. near the Bay Bridge’s western span and was contained in about two hours. However, eastbound commuters, many of whom were returning home from a San Francisco 49ers game, were stuck in traffic on the bridge after the fire prompted the shutting down of two eastbound lanes while firefighting crews battled the blaze. Dry, warm weather may have helped provide more ideal conditions for the fire, but reports suggest that another combustible element may have been a factor.

“We had some initial reports from telephones that there could have been some fireworks involved,” said SFFD Assistant Chief Matthew McNaughton, according to KGO-TV. SFFD firefighters are in the process of investigating the fire and what triggered it.
Regardless of the final outcome of the SFFD’s investigation, some facts are on the record about the perils of fireworks, according to statistics from the National Fire Protection Association and the National Council on Fireworks Safety, including the following:

Every year in the United States there are 9,300 serious injuries caused by fireworks, with an average of four deaths due to fireworks.
Forty percent of all fireworks-linked injuries in the United States are caused by illegal fireworks.
In 2011, hospital emergency rooms in the United States treated an estimated 9,600 people for fireworks-related injuries, and fireworks reportedly caused the death of eight civilians.
In 2011, there were an estimated 17,800 reported fires caused by fireworks in the United States, including 1,200 structure fires and 400 vehicle fires that resulted in direct property damage of $32 million. On average, 20,000 fires in the United States each year are blamed on fireworks.
Forty-five percent of injuries caused by fireworks are sustained by children under the age of 14.
On average, every year 400 Americans lose sight in one or both eyes due to fireworks.
In 2010, 61 percent of emergency room fireworks-related injuries were sustained by the extremities of the victims and 34 percent were injuries to the head.

A Look at Sources of Compensation for Fire Injury Victims

September 18, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

A cozy night spent reading by the fireplace, making smores around the campfire, a backyard barbeque with friends and family – fire, when controlled, can play a role in building happy memories. Uncontrolled, however, fire can be the source of terrible trauma. House fires can destroy physical possessions and cause serious injury or even death. When fire strikes homes in Northern California, The Brod Firm can help victims and serve as an Oakland fire injury law firm.

Fire Consumes One Home, Damages Two Others in West Oakland

The Oakland Tribune reported on a terrible blaze that damaged three homes in West Oakland on Tuesday morning. Fire officials believe the fire started at 3:29 A.M. in a laundry room located in the rear of a Victorian-style, two-story house on the 900 block of 24th Street, near the Market Street intersection. According to Battalion Fire Chief Emon Usher, an electrical problem sparked the blaze.