Chair near wall heater becomes fire risk

A chair next to a heater got a little too warm at a Balboa Coves home Friday, smoldering and becoming a serious fire risk, officials said.

The Newport Beach Fire Department received a call at 12:40 p.m. about a possible fire. When firefighters arrived, they found a chair propped up next to a wall heater, giving off smoke. They carefully moved the chair to the backyard and extinguished it with a hose.

Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz said the incident teaches a lesson people should take to heart this winter.

“It’s really important, especially as things get colder, to be very careful what you put next to any heater,” she said.