RISK OF HOME FIRES INCREASES AS HEATING ALTERNATIVES USED.

Byline: Gregory Botonis Daily News Staff Writer

The Antelope Valley's freezing weather has brought with it an increase in fire danger, fire officials say.

Home fires occur during cold weather from people using kerosene space heaters, ovens or flimsy fireplace fixtures to heat their homes, officials said.

``When you start getting real cold weather, you start seeing fires because people are using other means of heating,'' said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Henry Rodriguez.

Early Tuesday, a Lake Los Angeles family lost their mobile home to a fire blamed on a wood-burning stove's chimney, fire officials said.

Two adults and two children were in the home when the blaze broke out after 6 a.m., but escaped uninjured. The fire consumed 80 percent of their 140th Street East home.

A less serious house fire last week was blamed on the mishandling of fireplace ashes. The discarded ashes were placed in a bucket that melted and ignited an outside wall of the house. Firefighters said there was minimal damage to the house.

``Some of these things are dynamite just waiting,'' said Capt. Tom Little of county Station 24 in Palmdale. ``It's not something you can play with. People need to know how dangerous this stuff is.''

Little warned residents to be careful in building fires in ``zero clearance'' fireplaces, installed in many tract homes.

``People build fires that are too big in those things,'' said Little. ``They're decoration, not really a heat source.''

Unvented heaters, such as kerosene space heaters, pose a double threat in that the risk of fire is increased as is the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning, the fire captain said.

``Unvented heaters shouldn't even be used,'' said Little. ``They're just too dangerous.''