FURNACE HAZARD: BACKGROUND

Many California homes are equipped with gas fired horizontal forced air heaters that are installed in attics. In the mid-1990's, fire departments in Los Angeles County began documenting fires caused by a particular make of these furnaces.

In January 1994, Manhattan Beach Fire Department Fire Marshal Steve Age identified Premier Gas Horizontal furnaces as a potential fire hazard. In his January 9, 1994 letter to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the California State Fire Marshal and Consolidated Industries (maker of the "Premier" furnace), Fire Marshal Age warned that three fires in one year had occurred in Manhattan Beach all caused by Premier attic furnaces. He warned that the fire boxes in these furnaces malfunctioned, overheated, and caused fires.

In December  1998, three Premier furnace fires in three weeks in Torrance caused the Torrance Fire Department to become involved in this issue. Torrance Fire Department issued a NOTICE OF FIRE HAZARD following two fires in a tract of 52 custom homes all equipped with Premier furnaces. This notice was used as a press release and to inform home owners and contractors about the fire hazard. The Daily Breeze newspaper published a story on January 9, 1999 regarding the fire hazard posed by these furnaces.

On January 17, 1999, another Premier furnace fire in the same tract of 52 custom homes in Torrance occurred. At Torrance Fire Department's invitation, Consolidated Industries sent a representative to Torrance to confer on this continuing fire problem. This representative met with Torrance Fire Department and the Gas Company and reviewed several of the furnaces as installed in the 52 home tract where the fires had occurred. Consolidated Industries purchased back at least one of the furnaces from these homes for further investigation.

In April  1999, the Torrance Fire Department solicited the help of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in addressing the fires caused by Consolidated furnaces. Fire reports, photographs and documents related to Consolidated furnace fires were forwarded to the CPSC for their review. The CPSC was sponsoring a study of the issue.

Between April of 1999 and September of 2000, the Torrance Fire Department continued communicating with the CPSC, Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning contractors, other fire departments, and homeowners who owned Consolidated furnaces.

Fires and carbon monoxide exposures alleged to have been caused by specific types of Consolidated furnaces resulted in more than one class action suit being brought against them in California Courts. The CPSC was apparently prevented from taking definitive action on the issue when Consolidated Industries filed for bankruptcy.

On September 27, 2000, a comprehensive investigative report into the fire hazards posed by these furnaces was published in the Los Angeles Times. This article was responsible for bringing much needed public attention to the issue. On this same day, the CPSC also published a "Warning About Defective Furnaces in California". In the days and weeks following, television news and several newspaper agencies picked up the story and spread the word.