Salamander
Legitimate construction heating equipment with workplace history.
A long, thin propane or kerosene-fired heater used by contractors to cure plaster, spackling, or paint in the wintertime. The device is often left turned on overnight producing the illusion that there are flames in the building because of its glow. This results in a number of mistaken 9-1-1 calls for the fire department. Also known as a "torpedo heater" because it somewhat resembles a torpedo.
The caller said she saw flames in the building, but the fire department only found a salamander the contractors left on overnight.
Also in the dictionary
- salamander in metallurgy