Take care when using auxiliary heat sources your home

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On the afternoon of Jan. 10, officers responded with agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration to a house on Main Street in an attempt to find a man with a federal warrant.

The home and a camper on the property were searched, but residents said the man had left a short time earlier on foot. On the morning of Jan. 11, officers found the wanted subject, Joshua Harralston, standing in the front yard of a mobile home on St. Lucy Lane. Harralston was arrested without incident and turned over to the DEA for processing.

Fire department personnel met with others from the Matthews Fire Department, Portageville Fire Department and New Madrid County Emergency Management on Jan. 12 to discuss incoming winter weather and cold temperatures. Within 24 hours, there were already two fires in the county on power poles and one fire related to someone heating their home with their oven.

Over the next week we’ll have nightly lows near zero and house fires are likely to be caused by auxiliary heat sources. Residents should never plug space heaters into extension cords nor should they be left unattended.

In addition, if pipes do freeze, you should never try to thaw them with a propane or kerosene heater; numerous house fires have been caused by these heaters in crawl spaces.