This fire happened at about midnight. Shabbos was close to 7. So whether hot plates may be left on for all Shabbos or not (we personally use a timer to shut it, but it doesn’t reduce the on time by much, especially wintertime) in this case it was probably on for less than 6 hours. Point is something was most likely defective or set up improperly. I don’t want to speculate here but even something as setting the hot plate at a higher temperature than usual and too close to flammable materials can cause said material to ignite.
Since Pesach is coming up and most of us leave a flame on it’s particularly important to make sure there is adequate ventilation in your kitchen and that the level of your stovetop is above your countertop so that the wood/synthetic material (if it’s not made of stone) doesn’t dry out and overheat. Make sure your cabinets aren’t getting hot as well. Don’t let your blech touch your countertop as it conducts the heat. BROWNING OF WOOD ETC. IS AN EMERGENCY DANGER SIGN! Don’t wait for it though…
Keep the blech on Yom Tov overnight so the flame is covered, but again WITH ADEQUATE VENTILATION to avoid fire and carbon monoxide poisoning. Only one flame max and make sure it’s small. A hotplate is normally above the counter so it poses less of a problem there but it still produces heat. Heat can cause fire! The other issue with hotplates is that they are electric, which means the wires etc. have to be in perfect condition. For a two day Yom Tov a timer is a good idea to give the heat a break, and test it beforehand to ensure the internal thermostat is turning it on and off intermittently.
And remember plastic sink inserts are highly flammable!
Smoke & CO alarms save lives!
Sorry if I was a little repetitive of other posts but some things are worth repeating…
Stay safe everybody.