Officials have identified a laptop computer that was left running while sitting on top of a pile of clothes as the cause of a fire that destroyed a house in St. Raphael, Prince Edward Island, Canada earlier this week.
“We believe that that laptop, at some point, got warm, and that heat then built up on that pile of clothes, and at some point ignited those clothes and that’s what started our fire,” deputy fire marshal Robert Arsenault said.
He added that objects such as clothes, blankets or soft computer cases can often block vents along the bottom or side of laptop computers, trapping the heat inside the device and possibly causing it to overheat or catch fire.
