In Maryland, Attempts To Thaw Frozen Pipes Lead To Fires

Published January 9, 2018 at 6:59 AM EST

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep with a home repair project gone wrong. In the freezing weather in Taneytown, Md., a building suffered frozen pipes and a maintenance worker did what anybody might. He turned a hairdryer on them. When that didn't thaw the pipes, he switched to a blowtorch. It took 90 firefighters to put out the resulting fire, which caused $300,000 in damage.

And it was apparently 1 of 2 frozen pipe-related fires in the same area. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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