Jerusalem – The Fire Services’ investigation of the blaze that killed six members of the Shaer family in Rehovot has found that the fire was caused by a laptop computer that was placed on a bed.
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Major General Shachar Ayalon, Commissioner of Firefighting and Rescue, appointed a committee of inquiry on the night of the fire, March 26. Headed by the commander of the Rishon LeTzion Fire Services, officer Yaakov Shani, the committee included professional firefighting officers and representatives of the Israel Police.
The team found that the laptop computer had been placed on a bed’s mattress, causing it to overheat and set the mattress on fire. The burning mattress emitted great heat and a large amount of smoke and soot in a short time, causing the quick death of the victims from asphyxiation.
Officer Shimon Gamliel, head of Rehovot Fire Services, presented the results of the investigation to the widow and bereaved mother, Avivit Shaer.
The fire services emphasized in a statement that a laptop computer emits heat and therefore requires ventilation of its inner parts. “Placing a laptop computer on a soft surface blocks the ventilation openings, causing heat to build up within the computer box. In some cases, such heating could cause a fire to develop.”
The fire killed Guy Shaer (38) and his children Eliav (11), Eviatar (8), Amitai (7), Shira (3) and Itamar (one year old). The wife and mother, Avivit, was the family’s sole survivor.
i always worried about this.how come they dont have warnings
most laptops with shut off before it gets to hot, why this one did not? And they should try to find out
About 100 people are killed each year in fires in EY that start with careless cigarette smoking. This is a tragic yet isolated instance and spare us any commentary about how it should serve as a warning from the ebeshter about the dangers of the internet. You are more likely to get hurt by a falling shtender in the beis medrash or some drunk driving home from a purim spiel.
My laptop always shuts down when overheated, especially when on a soft surface. They should investigate what kind of computer is in question here and this should be part of fire saftey awareness as well!
the old laptops got very hot and some people sustained burns on their laps. there were also recalls of laptop batteries several years ago due to overheating and fire hazards. nowadays there are small stands or trays that people use to set the laptop on. i think thats a necesary thing to use with a laptop.
BDE to all those who nebech died in the fire.
My laptop always shuts down when overheated, especially when on a soft surface. They should investigate what kind of computer is in question here and this should be part of fire saftey awareness as well!
absolutely we should not judge as there are no prophets around today so nobody truly knows and nobody is in a position to decide why innocent children died. Anyway, it wasn’t the internet that caused the fire, it was a laptop. Couldve been only used for things that are completely kosher bu anyones standatds.
There are special cooling trays that can be placed under laptops. Laptops have their fans on the bottom and placing it on a surface where no ventilation comes through causes overheating.
#6 - wow, a terrible tragedy was brought up again, a bereaved mother was left alone in the world, a whole family was wiped out, and all you can say to #3 is shame on your spelling….
I’d rather have terrible spelling and much better Ahavas Yisroel than you have.
There was a time that DELL recalled one of their laptops cause the laptop had an overheating problem. At some performance the main laptop controlling the lighting affects blew up in flames in the middle. Could very well be that this specific laptop had a problem like that.
though it is true that we dont know the reason for these tragedies, it is our still our responsibility to try to take some spiritual lesson from it, especially when it is a very UNORDINARY large-scale tragedy.
I have always wondered why notebook computers are called “laptops” since you should never actually put one on your lap! And if you do, you will quickly figure out why that is a bad idea.
BDE to all of the victims. Regarding residential fires, it is extremely important to:
a) Have not only smoke detectors, but CO detectors, and heat detectors;
b) Make sure that electrical plugs are not overcrowded with countless extensions;
c) Electrical wiring should be inspected, and upgraded and replaced;
d) Gas furnaces, oil burners, gas and electric water tanks should also be periodically inspected;
e) The same holds true for gas and electric stoves.
Years ago, the New York City Fire Department used to do annual inspections of residential homes; it would also inspect businesses and hand out summonses, if it found something which was not proper.
Where was the wue when this happened there too?
Why all the bashing a yiddishe family died!!! where’s the sympathy rather than condemnation?about internet all these comments are incredible since they are all being posted ONLINE – this family prob. didn’t even have internet! Computers are used for Parnossah not only for bad, There are so many beautiful things it can be used for as well . shiurim, keeping in touch with family from afar – almost everyone has in israel just to have american phone line- why does everything have to insinuate bad?Just like anything else its use is controlled by the user for good or bad.
Is there amyone who can imagine reb moshe a”h speaking like #25 ?
Reb yaakov a”h? Rav Pam a”h? Reb shloima zalman a”h?