Electrical overload of an extension cable drum with a large proportion of the cable still wound onto the drum
Safety message
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Make sure that you take notice of the maximum rating of all extension cable drums and the rated power of the electrical items that you are connecting into it.
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If you are using an extension cable drum ensure that all the cable is fully unwound from the drum as this reduces the chance of it overheating and igniting.
How this fire happened
Electrical overload of an extension cable drum with a large proportion of the cable still wound onto the drum.
The extension cable drum (max load wound 660W and 1760W unwound) was providing power to 2 power units (motor power 1000W each).
The extension cable drum was sited next to a cardboard box.
It was in use in a disused stone quarry some 100m underground where asbestos remediation was taking place.
The effect it had
Thankfully this incident occurred in an area where there was very little combustible material present so the damage caused was minimal.
However, if there were a greater amount of combustible material this would have been a very significant and protracted incident due to its location.