18 Years Ago: Ozzy Osbourne’s House Nearly Burned Down

No one can deny that Ozzy Osbourne has repeatedly played with fire throughout his career with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. But fanning the flames of controversy played no role in the fire that spread through his seven-acre Buckinghamshire estate on March 25, 2005, forcing Ozzy and Sharon to flee their home with their pets.

No one was injured in the blaze, but the Osbournes and two of their employees were treated for smoke inhalation and the fire caused extensive smoke, heat and water damage. According to numerous reports in the British press, the Osbournes were sleeping when the fire ignited at around midnight, and they were awakened by a blaring smoke alarm. The couple scurried from the home and into their garden. There, they watched as smoke billowed from the home and four firefighters battled the blaze.

A spokesperson for the fire department initially said electrical problems caused the fire, but further investigation revealed that it was heat from the fireplace that set nearby wood paneling alight.

It wasn’t the only fire that would affect the Osbournes over the next decade. At about 4:45 on January 17, 2013, a fire ignited from a candle that exploded in a glass vase, causing a minor conflagration in the living room of the Osbourne’s Beverly Hills home. The couple was awakened by fire alarms, and when he noticed the small fire, Ozzy tried to put it out with his hand, which was already in a cast from a previous injury. Sharon tried to snuff the blaze with water, but only made it worse by spreading hot oil from the candle. Ozzy suffered minor burns to his face and hand. The fire also burned off his eyebrows and singed his hair. Sharon escaped unscathed.

Sharon Osbourne Recollects Another House Fire on Conan

Then on August 27, in a scene that should have been in the Penelope Spheeris film The Decline of Western Civilization: The Metal Years (in which Ozzy is filmed in the kitchen cooking eggs), Osbourne nearly set fire to his kitchen while trying to make himself a bacon sandwich before heading to bed. Somehow, grease from the meat set the pan aflame and triggered a smoke alarm, which caused the fire department to rush to the scene. The only casualties in the accident were the badly seared slivers of pig’s flesh.

The next day, Sharon tweeted about the incident: “I’m in London, Ozzy is in L.A. making a bacon sandwich last night and the fire brigade ended up at our house.”

Maybe the Osbournes should take a course from Rammstein on fire safety.

Loudwire contributor Jon Wiederhorn is the author of Raising Hell: Backstage Tales From the Lives of Metal Legends, co-author of Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal, as well as the co-author of Scott Ian’s autobiography, I’m the Man: The Story of That Guy From Anthrax, and Al Jourgensen’s autobiography, Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen and the Agnostic Front book My Riot! Grit, Guts and Glory.

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