Anyone ever heard of this happening?

[REVANANT]

Yet another reason not to drink beer that comes in clear bottles.

[FlyingKiwi]

Yup.

Seen a whole fence burnt down, due to an empty glass focusing the sun on a post.

(Damn Monkeys had been partying the night before in the back yard.)

[ChiefReason]

So, "sun catchers" are actually "heat catchers"?
I need more data.
You see them everywhere.
I'm still going to blame it on a house pet.
"Electrical" causes is just way over-used.
But a crack smoking monkey?
Happens more than you think.
CR

[clancyxdogg]

I remember reading about this as a cause of a fire in a high rise in NYC in the 1950's. There was a make-up mirror (magnifying) that was on a window sill, the sun hit it just right and the "V" pattern could be seen on the wall where the suns rays were focused. Kinda like the Archimedes shields starting a fire. Mythbusters did that one not too long ago and proved that the circumstances had to be just right to get it to work.

Larry

I have an area of char on one of my house's window casings about one inch wide by six inches long. The previous owner said his wife's make up mirror had been mounted across from there and they returned home one sunny day to find the room full of smoke. Strange but true, I guess.

[ffexpCP]

I can see it now churches bursting into flames every where !

Holy smokes!

[nyckftbl]

2 years ago, our fire inspector came up with this as a cause for a bedroom fire we had. It wasn't stained glass, but the older type of single pane window. I think he took the easy way out with his cause....

Hey, its better than "yeah it was electrical"!

[NonSurfinCaFF]

I've heard of wildland fires supposedly being started by a glass bottle laying in the sun. Again not common but I guess if the conditions are just right it is possible.

[REVANANT]

I remember reading about this as a cause of a fire in a high rise in NYC in the 1950's. There was a make-up mirror (magnifying) that was on a window sill, the sun hit it just right and the "V" pattern could be seen on the wall where the suns rays were focused. Kinda like the Archimedes shields starting a fire. Mythbusters did that one not too long ago and proved that the circumstances had to be just right to get it to work.

Larry

[BFDNJFF]

I can see it now churches bursting into flames every where !

[FlyingKiwi]

simple way to remember.

ConCave Caves in

A magnifying glass is Convex.

[ffexpCP]

I remember seeing it in a textbook of mine. I think it was 'Kirk's fire investigation'.

[Catch22]

If the triangle piece was concave/convex (whichever it is) like a magnifying glass, I could see how it could happen in a hurry.

[lvwrench]

lawsuit

I think a lawsuit needs to filed against the maker of the stain glass piece for failing to warn about a potential fire hazard. After all isn't that the American way? I figure it is worth about the same amount as the McDoalds hot coffee in the lap. Seriously though I could see the probability of this sort of thing happening under perfect condiditons. Place this under the stranger than fiction category.

[firepics]

2 years ago, our fire inspector came up with this as a cause for a bedroom fire we had. It wasn't stained glass, but the older type of single pane window. I think he took the easy way out with his cause....

Weird, don't think I've ever heard of that happening, but it's certainly possible. If the glass piece in question happened to be convex, or the combination of the stained glass piece with the triangle acted as a convex object, and that focused the sun's rays just right, then it would be no different than using a magnifying glass to ignite something. Interesting.