Glass Starts Fire

[Jeepers]

 Guess I'd better remove the prism and three glass apples sitting in the sunshine on the coffee table in front of the couch.  

 

Ornamental crystal ball starts fire in Wisconsin home

Samantha Kubota  12 hrs ago

 

Sunlight streaming through a window and into a crystal ball apparently caused a couch to catch fire in a Wisconsin home, fire officials said.

 

It happened Monday afternoon in the town of Delton, about an hour northwest of Madison near the Wisconsin Dells.

 

According to the Delton Fire Department, the owner came home to discover their house was on fire. An investigation determined the fire started on a couch in the living room.

 

“The cause of the fire was determined to be from a glass ‘crystal ball’ ornament,” Delton Fire Department said in a post. “The crystal ball had been located on a table near the couch and in direct sunlight. When sunshine came through a large set of windows and through the glass ball, it ignited the couch.”

 

The fire department warned people to keep items like “crystals, mirrors, glass ornaments and even bottles” out of direct sunlight and away from flammable things.

 

“These items can act just like a magnifying glass and focus sunlight so that the energy, which would normally be spread out over a wide area, is delivered to a much smaller point,” the department shared on Facebook.

 

Ornamental crystal ball starts fire in Wisconsin home (msn.com)

[Littlesister]

Yep. That is true.  Several years ago I tried using a magnifying glass to start a fire. And yes it does work. But I was outside and set some paper on fire with it. Takes a while but it will catch something on fire. 

[euphrasyne]

When I was a child, I was playing outside at my aunt's house and burned a huge hole in my skirt with a magnifying glass while looking at plants.