OTTAWA — Ottawa firefighters have been busy recently dealing with fires or incidents involving plug-in electric heaters. The heaters were blamed as the cause of two house fires in Ottawa this weekend. A house fire in the 700 block of North Main Street Saturday evening caused about $11,000 in damage to the house and contents, said Ottawa assistant fire chief Richard Oglesby. An electrical overload occurred in the living room and the resulting fire went through a wall and got into the ceiling, he said. The person occupying the house came back and discovered the fire. Sunday night’s house fire in the 700 block of South Sycamore Street caused about $14,000 in damage, Oglesby said. The occupant reset the breaker and heard a pop and smelled smoke. Firefighters found a fire in the attic. The fire was contained to the attic but there was some damage to the room below, he said. Fires caused by electrical space heaters tend to go up during the winter when temperatures drop, he said. Many of the fires occur in older houses that aren’t as well insulated or as modern wiring and where occupants are more likely to use one or more electrical space heaters, he said.
