Fire Started by Electric Blanket in Doghouse Guts Home in Simi

An attempt to keep a 4-year-old Doberman pinscher named Baby warm backfired in a big way Tuesday morning.

An electric blanket put in Baby’s doghouse by her owner, Rod Bergman, started a fire that gutted the Simi Valley home where the machinist lives with his parents, fire officials said.

Before leaving for work about 5:15 a.m., Bergman put the freshly laundered blanket in the doghouse, which was in an addition being built on the house. Half an hour later, the Bergmans’ 13-year-old, three-bedroom home in the 1300 block of Naples Court in the west end of the city was in flames. Firefighters knocked down the blaze in about 40 minutes.

Bergman’s stepmother and aunt, who were asleep in the house, escaped unscathed, along with two cocker spaniels, a cockatiel and Baby.

“My stepmother heard popping and crackling in the kitchen,” said Bergman, 25. “She thought it was me (cooking something), but then she got up and saw a big ball of flame on the patio.”

Smoke alarms in the house didn’t go off until the fire was well under way, Bergman said.

“If my stepmother didn’t hear the noise in the kitchen, things could have been a lot worse,” he said.

The house, valued at $250,000, suffered $200,000 in damage, Bergman and fire officials said, and the contents of the house, worth about $80,000, were destroyed. The family has insurance, Bergman said.

The Bergmans’ adjacent garage and their motor home, parked nearby, were not damaged.

Bergman said he put the electric blanket in Baby’s house to keep her from getting cold.

“She was in the house all night where it was warm, and I just wanted her to stay warm,” he said.

Improper use of electric blankets is a fire hazard, said Peter Cronk, an investigator with the Ventura County Fire Department.

“There are all these tiny wires inside electric blankets,” he said. “When laid flat, like they’re supposed to be, they don’t cause problems. But if you bunch them up like a dog would do by pawing at it, that’s when the problem starts.”

Cronk said Bergman told him that he had used the electric blanket in the doghouse for three years with no problems.

Cronk said he suspects that the blanket may still have been damp from being washed Tuesday morning and that, when plugged in, the wet wire may have ignited.

Bergman said he and his parents will stay with relatives and friends in the area.