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State Issues Warning On Using Space Heaters

BEVERLY (CBS) -- As cold as it is right now, and as much as it costs to heat our homes, the state is out with a warning.

They are warning of the dangers of using ovens and overloading outlets with space heaters.

Already this week there have been fires in Beverly, Somerville and Middleton blamed on space heaters.

WBZ-TV's Christina Hager reports.

In Beverly, fire investigators say several space heaters were running because the family didn't have home heating oil, adding one of the tanks was empty.

"People are trying to save whatever they can and now we have rising oil prices, so that's going to drive people to alternative heat sources," said Chief Kevin Robinson, the president of the Fire Chiefs' Association.

"A space heater's supposed to be three feet from combustibles, and combustibles are the clothes that you're wearing, a stack of newspapers, drapes, bedding materials, and we're seeing that three foot distance is not being maintained," said Robinson.

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