BILLINGS, Mo. – Authorities in southwest Missouri say a TV remote control probably triggered an explosion that destroyed a Christian County home on Tuesday morning.
The only person in the home at the time, Cindy Curry, 66, was blown outside but had only minor injuries. Firefighters said it’s amazing she survived at all.
Curry’s husband, Jerry, said he smelled propane gas in the 10-year-old house late Monday. But the smell was gone Tuesday morning, so he went out to have breakfast with friends.
His wife then turned on the TV, and Billings Fire Chief Henry Bos said it appears the remote control ignited propane still in the house.
The couple lost two of their dogs and a bird.
Well that’s a stretch.
Why is that a stretch? Did anyone think about the fact that it was probably the TV and not the remote? That’s much more likely.
Am I the only one who has burned his hand pushing the Power button the TV remote?
now THAT is HD!
#1. Exactly…..thats why it’s a stretch.
#3. Yep.
Well, just in case – does anyone have the model number? This could come in handy against the fundies.
I feel bad for the dogs and bird, BTW.
That’s one way to turn the channel.
They sure had a blast during prime time last night.
Don
Further proof that TV can kill.
How could either the remote or the TV cause a spark that would ignite gas? They are solid state and to the best of my limited knowledge, don’t produce sparks or high temperatures.
It was either a pilot light or on the TV Bill O’Reilly blowing his top gain that caused the explosion.
@#12: There are many people still using ye’ olde’ CRT TV’s. High voltage (thousands V) electrodes at the end of the CRT are typically exposed and within inch or so from one another. Add the gas and the voltage needed to arc over is within the reach… And that is just the simplest possibility.
Probably a MythBuster’s experiment getting out of hand.
Pocket of gas, hiding BEHIND/IN the TV???
If it was any type of CRT based TV there is a good chance of arcing at the 2nd anode (The high voltage connection to the CRT).
Almost certainly not the remote it’s self.
I was a TV tech back in the day when it was worth repairing a TV instead of throwing it away.
Curry’s husband smelled propane the day before, but says he didn’t smell it that morning, so he left to have breakfast with friends. Then his wife goes BOOM. Coincindence?
My TV remote sets off the hormones of the couple next door but the mute button never works.
The old style remotes from the 60’s and 70’s which used to use a coil to make a high pitch sound which the TVs would listen for…those were mechanical…maybe they were the final hold outs of that old technology.
17,
TRUE.
GAS will loose its smell after a time.
But if there was a LEAK, wouldnt it keep LEAKING?
This happens to me all of the time..I’ve lost 6 or 7 houses this way…I knew I should have left the house when I smelled the gas, but I coudn’t miss Oprah.
Perhaps the propane manufacturers should add a chemical that makes unburnt gas smell really good. Because the “rotten eggs” smell approach apparently doesn’t alarm some people enough. It smells like everything else in their house, eh?