Man Dies in Dallas House Fire Attributed to Oncor Smart Meter

Screen Shot 2015-02-04 at 14.19.19Last Monday night, another preventable tragedy unfolded as a 74-year-old Dallas man named James Humphrey Jr. was killed in a fire that his family is blaming on a recently installed Oncor smart meter.

The victim’s family say the new smart meters are electrically incompatible with the wiring in older houses, which is something we have been documenting for years and a fact the utility industry is well aware of.

Our thoughts go out to James Humphrey Jr.’s family and friends and again we ask how many more have to die?

More details, video and interviews with the family:

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/02/03/74-year-old-killed-house-fire-dallas/22786269/

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/02/03/fatal-dallas-fire-puts-scrutiny-on-smart-meters/22821335/

 http://www.fox4news.com/clip/11096698/man-dies-in-dallas-house-fire

http://bcove.me/yggtwcz2

This entry was posted in Fires, Smart Grid, Texas. Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Man Dies in Dallas House Fire Attributed to Oncor Smart Meter

  1. Janet Curtis says:

    my neighbor died along with her pets last july in reno. before she passed (a horrific death) she told me about electrical problems. they were the same as mine. everything went out garage door opener, refridge..lightbulbs, sparking in light switches. i called nv energy and they came out. they said this is just the begining. they sent an electrician (inexperienced) to check and he told nv energy i had no proble? then they sent someone to fix fridge..it wasnt defrosting, he said he needed to order a part. then he told nv energy that it wasnt an electrical problem really? its an electrical appliance that needs an electronic part to fix it. It is a frost free like we have had for decades. they are not coming bk. because its not a problem? I am so sick of worrying bout fire. I was told they would send ge the brand i have ..to relook at this but now they arent..this has been seriously going on since july. Im grieving the death of my 20 yr neighbor and friend and even my dog is looking for her dog to walk with. traumtizing as this is, i did get anolog bk. 50 bucks to get something back that i never wanted removed, but employees admit they will jump yr fence and put smart meters on anyway. now i not only pay the meter reader, i get charged 14 service charge for gas and 15 more for electric. when i called the woma said i cant tell you why…um maintence. what maintenance? so now I pay 40 bucks more per month. Im single and I pay more than full families! what is wrong with this pic..oh and i defrosted fridge and the water was so deep i have warped laminate floors that I PAID alot for and I installed. I had an accident working industrial electrics and I thought these guys are idiots, they think im that stupid to say my refridgerator isnt in need of an electrical part. yep so when was the last time anyone was using ice picks to defrost? what an expensive joke. I want to be added to the lawsuit.

  2. greg says:

    The type of meter doesn’t affect the wiring of a house. Go read the electric code and learn basic electric theory. An incorrectly installed meter, no matter what the type, could cause a fire but the risk of an incorrect installation should be no different between different types of meters. What did the fire department say was the cause of the fire? The victims family does not have the expertise to determine the cause of the fire. What they think doesn’t matter in terms of the safety of smart meters.

    • Darlene Engebretsen says:

      Greg, you are dead wrong. It is possible for an analog meter to cause a fire, but that isn’t what happened here. First, Smart Meters can cause 440 volts to go into houses instead of 220 or even 110, which some of the old houses are wired for. When you stick a Smart Meter on an old house which may not be up to code, you are asking for trouble. A good licensed electrician would know if the house was not designed to safely carry the Smart Meter load, and refrain from such an installation. They might also spot other problems such as corroded base plates, and again, use common sense and caution. Unfortunately, many power companies are too cheap to hire real electricians. They are in such a hurry to get Smart Meters slapped onto houses without peoples’ informed consent that they hire under-qualified, poorly trained workers to install them. Many of the fires caused by Smart Meters end up being due to this faulty installation or inability of the home to carry the load. Then the power company blames the customer for the problems. They also fail to take responsibility for the fried appliances which often occur from Smart Meters. Since most Smart Meters aren’t even U.L. certified, some insurance companies refuse to pay when the meters cause a fire. How many people can always afford to hire an electrician to make sure that the Smart Meter gets correctly installed? How many people even receive any kind of adequate notice before installation? Not too many, I can tell you! If upgrades need to be made to the customer’s electrical system before it can receive a Smart Meter without fire risk, how many people can afford the upgrades? Many cannot, but the utility provider doesn’t care about the customer’s safety. They will continue installing these lethal SPY and FRY devices as long as they can get away with it. Then there is the well documented problem of Smart Meter radiation causing a plethora of health problems. The poor old man’s house burns up right after they put the damn Smart Meter on, and one caught his neighbor’s house on fire right after her’s was installed. Wake up and smell the coffee! ONCOR has this man’s blood on their hands, but the greedy big executives don’t care as long as they get their huge salaries.
      Ms. D.G. Engebretsen, MSW. Stop Smart Meters of Nevada County (CA.)

    • Jim says:

      Sorry bud
      But you’re seriously wrong
      I almost lost my life in March 25th 2023. 2 investigation were conducted and both determined the cause was indeed the “smart” meter with its lithium batteries. A little more research would have been diligent

  3. Death Meters says:

    Condolences to the Humphreys family and relatives. WE support you.
    Nobody has to die in a ‘smart meter’ fire.

  4. LOIS says:

    The kind of meter doesn’t matter? SMART METERS caused my service to shut down, 3/4/5 times a week, sometimes twice a day, igniter on stove could be heard in my RADIO. Fan on my fridge got so loud, sounded like it wanted to take off. Had analog put back in, ALL those problems are gone, along with the smart meter. Feed that crap to someone willing to be brain washed

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