Disney snow globe sparks blaze
By Tony Raba
Oct 5, 2004, 16:25
A Disney toy set fire to a girl's bedroom by acting as a magnifying glass for the sun's rays.
The souvenir glass ball, bought from Disneyland Paris, caused thousands of pounds damage to a house in the Midlands.
The sphere, a glitter snowstorm which has Disney princess characters inside, was sitting on eight-year-old Jessica Errington's bedroom window ledge.
But with the sun's rays passing through it, it created a beam hot enough to set fire to a toy Beanie Bear lying nearby.
Jessica's curtains were badly damaged in the fire and her carpet also caught fire, leaving her family with a clean-up bill running at more than £4,000.
Today Jessica's grandfather, businessman Trevor Forrester, warned other families not to leave similar items in direct sunlight.
He was astonished that the seemingly harmless souvenir, which he had bought for Jessica, could wreak such damage.
The fire broke out in the front bedroom of the house in Holyrood Close, Kingston Hill, Stafford, shortly before 4pm yesterday.
Jessica's grandmother, Christine Forrester, was there at the time and raised the alarm.
Mr Forrester said: "It was fortunate there was someone in and when the smoke and heat detector went off they were able to close the bedroom door and alert the fire brigade.
"I never had any suspicion that it could be an issue that a glass ball could concentrate heat from the sun's rays sufficiently to start a fire - it is frightening.
"The big Beanie Bear just burst into flames. My advice to anyone who has a similar glass ball is not to leave it on the window ledge."
He added that he could not emphasise enough the importance of having smoke detectors.
Source:
Express & Star
