Light bulbs are an everyday fixture in our lives, with most we encounter today replaced with LED bulbs, but how long can you safely run any light bulb?
Around 7 a.m. on November 9, 2016, in Lackawanna, New York, employees of Industrial Materials Recycling discovered thick smoke during their routine daily safety inspection. It was coming from the old Bethlehem Steel site, and it wasn’t long before they discovered that the site had caught fire. The fire fed on stacks of cardboard and, within hours, a black plume that was visible for miles towered over the city. Firefighters came in for what would become a 10-day battle, while hundreds of nearby residents were forced to evacuate their homes.
When asked what caused this fire, officials agreed that it was a light bulb. The belief is that a hot bulb fell onto the cardboard that fueled the fire, kicking off the inferno. Incandescent and halogen bulbs can run dangerously hot, with halogen bulbs generating more heat than any other bulb type. To prevent fire, experts recommend maintaining at least 4 to 6 inches of clearance around them to avoid overheating.
