Sometimes I am amazed at how casually people treat the areas around their electric heaters. The heater might be in a bathroom and a towel rack is mounted over it, towel hanging down. Or maybe the curtains hang down over the baseboard heater in the living room. In the photos below, someone had actually installed a hardwood floor that went well up over the bottom edge of the heater. When the heater ran, the wood got very hot. While the temperature it achieved was not hot enough to cause immediate combustion, this reduces the moisture in and dries the wood. If the temperature reaches 248 degrees F, the wood begins to char and pyrolysis (how wood is turned to charcoal) kicks in and that leads to the wood being highly prone to combustion at lower temperatures than what are usually required. This idea of keeping heaters away from flammables seems like common sense but I guess lots of people do not realize how hot those bright red heating elements get. 

Thanks for looking

Steven L. Smith

http://www.kingofthehouse.com/