A single cracked extension cord can torch a shed faster than a lightning strike. While most people scan their shelves for gas cans, oily rags, or a tipped-over space heater when they think about shed fires, few look down at the tangled orange cord draped over a lawnmower or stuffed behind a bag of fertilizer.
Yet extension cords rank among the leading causes of electrical fires in homes and outbuildings. When those cords live outdoors, bake in summer heat, stiffen in winter cold, and soak up moisture year after year, they become far more dangerous than they look.
