MILWAUKIE -- Snow globes left on a window ledge directed sunlight into an intense heat beam that started a couch fire in a Milwaukie home.
The owner said he left the snow globes on a ledge after Christmas and forgot about them, Clackamas Fire District spokesman Steve McAdoo told KGW.
The globes stayed on the shelf, the angle of the sun changing over the months. Saturday, the globes directed intense heat beams at the back of a couch, he said.
Neighbors heard a smoke alarm and called 9-1-1.
"Thank God because the house would have been gone probably in another half an hour," said homeowner Ken Gambell.
