Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 08/98) - Investigators say an exploding television is to blame for a fire that destroyed the contents of a 49th Street home last week.

The June 30 fire caused an estimated $60,000 in damage to the four-plex unit and another $15,000 to contents. The B.C. family, new to Yellowknife, was not at home at the time of the fire.

"It was found that the TV was burning prior to the rest of the room of the one-bedroom suite," deputy fire chief Mike Lowing Tuesday.

"What started the fire was determined to be the TV due to the burn-pattern indicators and the amount of destruction in the components of the television that failed."

The television was on a dresser in the bedroom and because of some failure in the circuitry, the picture tube or other components of the set, it was blown off the dresser, depositing hot TV parts around the room, including on a nearby bed.

After putting out the blaze, the NWT fire marshal's office was called to retrieve the television, which had melted beyond recognition into the family's VCR.

The brand and television size have yet to be determined. The set has been sent to Edmonton for further testing to determine why it failed.

Lowing said the fire may have had something to do with the instant-on mechanism in the television that avoid the needs for a warm-up period.

"There's a certain amount of heat energy that's already there with the instant-on TV," said Lowing.

It's been a while since the fire department has seen a fire involving a television. In the early 1980s when instant-on systems were just starting to come out, the problem of over-heating was noticed.