Dryer Fire Articles (2005)

A fire that began in a basement clothes dryer destroyed a Kettering home early Dec. 22, sending two firefighters to the hospital and causing about $350,000 of damage. The Prince George’s County fire department reported that the family started the dryer before leaving the house to run errands that morning. A neighbor who saw smoke coming from the house, on the 400 block of Richton Court, reported the fire at 8:15 a.m.Fifty firefighters and paramedics fought the fire for 45 minutes before extinguishing it. In the wake of the blaze, two firefighters were sent to local hospitals with minor injuries, and the family has lost heir home and most of their possessions. The county fire department advises residents to never operate a dryer without a lint filter, and to clean the filter regularly. The department also asks residents to turn their dryers off before leaving their homes, and to have them professionally installed and serviced by a professional.

HIALEAH, Fla. -- A Tuesday morning clothes dryer fire in Hialeah has left a family homeless. The family said the fire was caused by lint in the ventilation duct. Firefighters managed to rescue three dogs that were in the house. The dogs were unconscious when they were pulled out, but firefighters resuscitated them. The mother and son who were in the house also made it out safely. "Hopefully we can find help. My mom and sister are OK. That's all I care about," said Pedro Lassus, who survived the fire. Because the house is still unsafe to live in, the family will likely stay with relatives.

MOUNT OLIVE -- A heating and air-conditioning crew saw a fire Wednesday at an old colonial home at 309 E. James St. and put it out, keeping damages to a minimum, officials said. "They saw the fire under the house, set up an old-fashioned bucket brigade and dumped water on it," Assistant Mount Olive Fire Chief Greg Wiggins said. "They had it knocked down by the time we got there." Lint in the dryer was blamed. The fire was confined to the laundry room, but smoke damage spread through the home. Mount Olive firefighters needed about 40 minutes to investigate the cause, ventilate the home and finish salvage work. Damages were estimated at $2,000. The home, owned by Kenny Moore, was valued at $400,000.

Residents of the Ivy Stone Apartments had to be evacuated for about 45 minutes Tuesday night after a dryer vent clogged with lint mixed with the cold night air and produced what appeared to be heavy smoke, authorities said. Todd Cartner with Horry County Fire Rescue said there were no reported injuries and that the evacuation was done as a precaution. The incident was reported around 9:20 p.m.

It was just some lint from the dryer, but it was the cause of a fire at Sunnycreek Estates in Bayside on November 28 around 10 p.m. “A couple and four kids escaped,” said Deputy Fire Chief John Whelan. The cause of the fire was determined to be lint piled up behind the dryer. Bayside fire department responded immediately to 9-1-1 calls and requested help from Batawa which brought tanker trucks because there were no fire hydrants nearby. “They did an excellent job,“ Whelan said. “The trailers were in such close proximity, but the fire crews stopped the fire from spreading. It could have been much worse.” The family at 95 5th Street had no insurance. Their home, worth about $70,000 was destroyed. Local agencies are working to help the homeless family.

NORTH ADAMS - Two fires that occurred within the span of 24 hours both started from household dryers, firefighters said. The first fire occurred on Friday at around 11:17 p.m. at the 107 Furnace St. residence of Richard F. Sheldon. According to acting Lt. Pat Bradley, the fire started because the lint collector in the dryer was not cleaned properly. The property suffered minor smoke and water damage, but no one was hurt in the fire. The second fire occurred on Saturday at around 2:30 p.m. at 1145 Massachusetts Ave. at the residence of Michael Bouley. The fire started because the build up of lint in the dryer itself and in the hose connected to the dryer. The fire was confined to the basement, and only minor property damage was reported. Bradley said that to prevent house fires from starting in dryers, residents should take more time to clean the dryer's lint filter, as well as the hose leading to the dryer's vent. "Some of the lint accumulates in the hose, and it also may accumulate moisture and water," Bradley said. According to the Fire Analysis and Research Division of the National Fire Protection Association, dryers are responsible for an estimated 14,100 home fires in the U.S. annually, causing over 65 million in property damage. The Consumer Product Safety Commission's Web site suggests that, to prevent dryer fires, the lint filter should be cleaned after each load of clothes is completed. If clothes after a normal cycle are still damp, this may mean that the exhaust hose or lint screen is blocked and needs to be cleaned. Hoses leading to outside ducts should be checked often for kinks and crushing, which can block the airflow of the dryer. If worse comes to worse, either take the hose apart and clean it out with a vacuum cleaner, or buy a new hose at a hardware store. "A hose costs about $6 at most stores, and that could prevent a house fire right there," Bradley said.

A clothes dryer started a fire at 1229 Minnesota Ave. in Duluth on Friday, causing about $40,000 worth of damage to a woman's home. The fire put itself out before the Duluth Fire department responded shortly after 7 p.m., said Jim Ray, assistant fire chief. No one was injured, but smoke and soot caused substantial damage. The woman's cat, found coughing near the door, was taken to a local veterinarian.

A fire late Wednesday at a rural Yamhill County house killed a 68-year-old woman and injured another woman and two children. Firefighters were called at 11:06 p.m. to the house on Grahm Avenue north of the city of Yamhill. Firefighters stayed outside to attack the flames because of the fire's intensity. About 50 firefighters were on the scene. Six of the family members who lived there had evacuated before firefighters arrived. They include a 30-year-old woman and a 4-year-old boy who were taken by Life Flight to Legacy Emanuel Hospital for treatment of extensive burns and injuries. A 7-year-old girl was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries and later was released. All are improving, said Debbie McDermott, a fire inspector for the McMinnville Fire Department A man and two teenage girls were not injured. The identity of the woman who died was not released. The home was destroyed and the loss was estimated at $100,000. The fire started under the house when lint from a dryer vent ignited. The dryer was not able to completely vent under the house, officials said.

Four children and one adult were displaced after a fire this morning on Admiral Drive, city firefighters said. The fire was reported at 4:14 a.m. at 223 Admiral Dr., Capt. Joseph Martin said. The blaze, which was originally believed to be a kitchen fire, was under control in 20 minutes. It was later determined that the fire was accidental and originated from a lint buildup behind a dryer unit, Capt. Martin said. The fire caused $30,000 worth of damage. There were no injuries.

BAKERSFIELD -- A south Bakersfield blaze injured a firefighter and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage Tuesday night. The fire started at about 7:30 p.m. at 6001 Via Lucca, where the flames quickly spread through the house. Fire officials said the blaze began after dust and lint caught fire in a clothes dryer. Witnesses said the fire set off what appeared to be explosions within the home. "When I came outside, I just seen a little bit of fire coming up, and after that, I just started to hear real loud booms," said eyewitness Isaac Chatman. More than 30 city and county firefighters were called in to help. One of them suffered a moderate ankle injury while deploying hose lines during the initial fire attack. He was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released. Firefighters estimated the damage at $150,000.

LINT caught in a clothes dryer sparked a blaze which severely damaged an historic hotel at Trentham, north of Melbourne, a Country Fire Authority spokesman said. The damage bill has been estimated at $1 million. CFA's George Ellis said the cause of the fire at the Cosmopolitan Hotel early today had been traced to a duct in an industrial clothes dryer. "There was a build up of lint which caught fire and caused the further damage," he said. Advertisement: "The lower storey is intact but it sustained a lot of water and smoke damage," Mr Ellis said. "The roof and ceiling of the building was all destroyed." Bruce McKenzie has lived next door to the hotel for 78 years and said the whole place was made of wood. "There were all wooden shingles under the iron roof which is great insulation, but unfortunately is hard to put out," he said. Mr McKenzie said while the fire service did a fine job, the loss of a building from the 1860s was sad. "It's very much an important part of Trentham's history, it's one of the earliest buildings and it's been there a long, long time," he said. "If they do rebuild it, it won't be the same." Mr McKenzie's wife, Faye, said it was a "terrible business" for the hotel owners, who only bought it a couple of months ago. "It's very sad for them and the whole town," she said. The fire is believed to have started around 1.30am (AEST) today.

A fire in a Keizer garage late Wednesday began in a clothes dryer, officials said. A clogged vent hose caused the dryer to overheat and catch fire at the house at 2449 Aldine Court NE, the Keizer Fire District said. Firefighters were called at 11:42 p.m. after the family found heavy smoke in the garage. Jason and Brenda Hart own the house and live there with their two children. Their 14-year-old daughter told firefighters that she had been drying a pillow earlier in the evening and took it out of the dryer because she thought she smelled burning plastic. Her 9-year-old brother smelled smoke about an hour later. The children found heavy smoke in the garage and told their parents, who called 911.

A fire started by dryer lint caused $40,000 in damages to a Fayette Street house last week, but none of the residents were injured. The fire started in the afternoon on Saturday, May 7, in the basement of 196 Fayette St., according to Fire Captain Daniel Walsh. Residents smelled smoke and were able to leave the building quickly and contact the Fire Department before the fire spread beyond the basement. After putting out the blaze, firefighters found a "pretty well-clogged" dryer filter, Walsh said. A lint-choked filter blocks heat from exiting the dryer, leading to a potentially hazardous build-up, Walsh said. Filters should be emptied regularly even if the dryer is new, he said, and homeowners should try to keep their vents as straight as possible to avoid blockage from bends. "If the heat is blocked, it'll build up, and it has to go somewhere," he said. Last month's fire at 190 Arlington St., though, was probably caused by a carelessly tossed cigarette butt, Walsh said.

GAINESVILLE - Hall County Fire Fighters were called out Tuesday night to a mobile home blaze, apparently caused by a dryer. Fire Marshall Scott Cagle says the call came in at about 7:20 pm. When they arrived at the home at 6107 Cardinal Drive, in Timber Ridge Estates Mobile Home Park, off Grant Ford Road, the 14-by-60 mobile home was fully involved in fire. "The mobile home, valued at approximately $40,000, is listed as a total loss," says Cagle. Brenda Sue Harper, her children and their pets escaped the burning home without injury. The home, according to Cagle, is owned by Johnny Harper, identified as her brother.  The dryer, according to Cagle, overheated. "There was a full load of clothes in the dryer," he says, " as well as the dryer vent itself clogged with lint. "This is a reminder, and a wake-up call " says the fire marshall," to clean those dryers , especially the vents, every cycle."

A laundry fire at the Health and Human Performance Building yesterday afternoon forced crowds of students outside - most of them in workout clothes - while firefighters squelched the small flames in about 15 minutes. Lint inside a dryer caught fire just before noon, after two staff members put laundry in the dryer and left for lunch. The fire caused about $8,000 in damage, University Police Spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell said. “If you don’t clean the lint out of your dryer, it’s very combustible,” Atwell said. Students sat outside on brick walls near the building, which is next to the Campus Recreation Center, and watched as firefighters from College Park, Berwyn Heights and Prince George’s County went in and out. Battalion Chief LeRoy Smith of the Prince George’s County Fire Department said the call originally came in for a roof fire, but once on the scene, firefighters realized the fire was in the laundry room. Firefighters struggled to ventilate the building, but cleared the smoke in time to resume classes, Smith said. Many students thought it was just a drill when the fire alarm went off and said they were glad to have the time taken away from classes. “I didn’t think it was an actual fire until I heard the fire trucks,” said Jason Lee, a junior kinesiology major, who missed the end of one of his classes because of the fire.

Fire Chief James Blanchard is urging residents to be cautious when doing laundry after a fire that ignited in a dryer almost burned down a building housing mentally challenged adults. Crews from Engine 1, Engine 3 and Ladder 1 rushed to the 7 Hills Community complex on Lynn Fells Parkway last Thursday when an automatic alarm went off shortly after 9:30 p.m., Blanchard said. Although a tremendous amount of smoke filled the building firefighters struggled at first to locate the source of the blaze, he said, eventually tracking it to an addendum to the basement. Once in the remote area of the basement, firefighters saw flames coming out of the top of the dryer. Blanchard said the blaze was so severe that it managed to work its way up through the dryer vents and melted the controls on top. "The dryer really cooked up," Blanchard said. "It completely burned out and the whole thing is black. You look at it and it's a wonder the whole place didn't burn down." Blanchard said firefighters under the direction of Capt. Arthur Sinclair were able to quickly get the fire under control. But not before a considerable amount of harm was done to the building - $10,000 in estimated smoke damage alone. A subsequent investigation revealed that the dryer was operating when the fire started, Blanchard said. He added it isn't uncommon for clothes to catch fire in dryers and that the Fire Department has had to deal with similar situations in the past. Fortunately, Blanchard said the staff at 7 Hills was able to get all of the residents out of the building. He credited their fleet response and the fact the fire was contained in a concrete section of the basement as factors why no one was hurt. According to Blanchard there is a considerable amount of work that needs to be done to fix the damage the fire caused at 7 Hills. However, Blanchard noted the building is habitable and that the residents are back in their rooms as the cleanup effort continues. Blanchard said there are things residents can do to cut down on the chances of such a fire starting in their homes. First, Blanchard stressed the importance of taking the time to clean out the lint filter whenever anyone uses the dryer. Lack of maintenance is the leading cause of dryer fires and excess lint is usually to blame for igniting them. Blanchard also advised that it's not a good idea to ever leave your home when the dryer is running in case something happens.

A home just a few houses down from Woodland Fire Station 2 was the focus of a multi-engine call Thursday morning. The call reported a house on fire on El Dorado Drive near West Street, according to Battalion Chief Wyatt Cline. A repairman was soldering pipes under the house when some lint caught on fire, Cline said. The flash fire burned an accumulation of lint under a subfloor. Firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to find hot spots so they could cool the blaze. Three people who were in the house at the time of the fire were able to make it out safely. Cline said he couldn't estimate damage caused by the fire, but indicated not much harm was caused. The repairman was uninjured. "Luckily it wasn't as bad as its potential," he said.

A 61-year-old Lexington man died from smoke inhalation early yesterday after a clothes dryer caught fire. Joseph Lawson, of 517 Kildare Court, collapsed while trying to escape the fire, which was reported at 3:21 a.m., said Jim Wells, battalion chief of the Lexington fire department. He was taken to University of Kentucky Hospital, where he died from smoke inhalation, the Fayette County coroner's office said. Wells said six other people who were in the home when the fire began made it out safely. He did not know how many of those people lived in the house. The fire probably started because too much lint was in the vent of the clothes dryer, Wells said. The house was heavily damaged. Funeral arrangements for Lawson at Hawkins Funeral Home, 632 Pine Street, were incomplete yesterday.

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. -- House Apparently Had No Smoke Detectors. Firefighter said a house fire that turned fatal in Rochester Hills started from a clothes dryer. Authorities responded to the fire at a home in the 2700 block of Venome Monday afternoon. A fatal fire in Rochester Hills started from this clothes dryer. Firefighters removed a 57-year-old woman from the home. She was taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.  Inspectors later determined that the fire was sparked by a clothes dryer. Most recent national statistics show that more than 14,000 dryers caught fire in 1998, causing 312 injuries and 19 deaths, Local 4 reported. Authorities say that lint in dryers is combustible and dryers that have an inadequate ventilation system can quickly catch fire when overheating. "If for some reason, your clothes are taking twice as long to dry or something like that, you need to have your dryer checked because that could be a real cause," said Rochester Hills Fire Department Chief Ron Crowell. Oakland County Sheriff's deputies said they do not know if the 57-year-old woman died from smoke inhalation or burn wounds. There were apparently no smoke detectors inside the home, officials said.

HANOVER TWP. - Township Fire Chief Stanley Browski said a Tuesday morning basement fire at a Main Road home was caused by a small animal nest inside the exhaust pipe of the dryer. Browski said the flex pipe dryer discharge on the outside of the home was less then 12-inches off the ground and large enough for a small animal, possibly a chipmunk, to enter it. The nest, made of lint, pine needles and straw clogged the exhaust pipe, causing the fire just before 11 a.m. at 448 Main Road, he said. The fire has been ruled accidental.

WALTHAM -- Fire officials are blaming a combination of dryer lint, a venting problem and heat for a fire that damaged the multi-family home at 43 Jacqueline Road Monday afternoon. Fire officials said the fire started in the ceiling of the laundry room and heavily charred the rafters. Firefighters were called to the building just after 2:30 p.m., only hours after an appliance company checked the vents on the dryers, according to a report. The building's property manager told fire officials an appliance company had worked on the dryers earlier in the day because they had reportedly not been working properly. Fire officials said the vent for the middle dryer appeared to be disconnected in the ceiling and a lot of lint had collected there. The combination of lint, a venting problem and heat appears to have caused the fire, officials said. Firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to check for fire in the walls of the building. A smoke detector alerted residents to the fire, officials said. No one was injured.

A fire that started in a dryer heavily damaged a Dunmore apartment and sent a woman to the hospital for smoke inhalation Saturday morning, fire officials said. Fire crews were called to the second floor apartment at 128 Willow St. at 8:28 a.m., said Chief Vince Arnone. Scranton sent four fire trucks to assist Dunmore. Resident Paula Simone, 23, was treated at Community Medical Center for smoke inhalation. Her cat was killed by smoke, Chief Arnone said. The fire apparently started in a dryer in a small laundry room in the apartment, he said. The fire spread to the walls and other rooms, damaging much of the apartment. The building, which includes another apartment with two residents, is uninhabitable, Chief Arnone said. It took firefighters 20 to 25 minutes to get the blaze under control, he said.

The Taylor children found out last week that some of the hard lessons of life are learned early. A malfunctioning dryer at their home caused a fire last Thursday and eventually burned the place where they slept, ate and played. Most of the children were across the street at Central Elementary, Miller, watching. "They called them into the office," said mother Holly Taylor, owner of the salon Bad Hair Day in Carthage. "They had to talk to them. "Our house is right across the street from the elementary school. They had to watch their house burn down." The fire started about 1:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon after husband, Rick, turned the dryer on and left the house. It burned for hours and hours, mainly because a metal roof kept the fire trapped inside. The Taylors -- Brad, Holly, Levi, 15, Jacob, 12, Kenneth, 9, Tressie, 12, Kadi, 11, Tasha, 8, and Tayla, 5. -- have spent the last week in a motel and were planning to move into a former bank building today in Miller where they could set up dividers for living space. "We had a real dilemma finding something big enough," Holly said. "We just plan to stay there in the building until the end of the school year, and then move to Carthage. We haven't had a lot of time to think about it." Grandma Linda Cummins said the children have had time to consider things. "You can tell they're thinking about it at odd moments," Cummins said. "They went from tragic to adventure to devastation again," Holly said. She said the children have split time between grandparents, uncles and aunts. "The family has really pulled together," Cummins said. Besides an entire building, the Taylors have lost photos, wedding pictures and "memories." They didn't lose either the cat, Marshmallow, or Brad's cell phone. Bother were found later. "I think of all, at least all my kids and husband are OK," Holly said. "I've got them to hug and hold. They're not replaceable." "They're all really sad, but for kids, they're glad everybody is OK," Holly said. "For their ages, I've been pretty proud of them." A bank account has been established for the Taylors at the Bank of America on the Square for those wanting to contribute.

A dryer-load of shop rags caught fire Friday morning at West Coast Linen in Newport, but damage was limited to just the rags themselves. The Newport Fire Department responded to 426 NW Coast Street at 10:30 a.m. on a report of a dryer fire that was possibly spreading to the building. What had been thought to be fire on the roof of the building, however, was in fact the smoke being exhausted through the dryer vent. The building itself was undamaged. When firefighters arrived on scene, employees from the laundry had already removed most of the shop rags from the dryer, piling them in the street. Flames occasionally appeared in this smoking pile of rags as fire personnel spread them out and then used a hose to douse the fire. Bruce Flaming, owner of West Coast Linen, said the shop towels simply got too hot in the dryer, but "we only lost a few rags." He confirmed that no equipment was damaged. Newport Assistant Fire Chief Toby Cole said there is a combination of things that would contribute to spontaneous combustion in a situation like this. Cole also said that Flaming told him this type of dryer fire is not that uncommon. A total of 17 firefighters, two engines and an equipment truck responded to the Friday morning fire. They were on the scene for about an hour and 45 minutes.

Firefighters rescued a Holland woman's cat when they came to fight a fire Friday morning at her home. The fire was apparently caused by a dryer. Bobbie Caudillo, 36, 572 W. 18th St. was putting a load of wash in when she first smelled smoke. Curious, she opened the dryer and smoke billowed into the room, she said. She quickly grabbed her Chihuahua, Chico, and told her chow, Keeta, and her cat, Baby, to follow. Keeta ran out the door after her, however, Baby was no where to be seen. Outside, wearing shorts and barefoot, Caudillo called 911. Smoke continued to fill the house as she worried about her cat. The Holland Fire Department responded within three minutes said Lt. Andy Stokes, who found the cat hiding under the bed. "She was pretty mad when I grabbed on to her," Stokes said. Stokes said the fire was caused by lint trapped in the vent hose in the back of the dryer. He said these fires happen because people simply forget to clean the vent hose. Its very important for residents to remember to clean both the lint trap in the front of the dryer and the vent hose at the back, he said.

RAYMOND - Community support has been pouring in to help Pat and Warren Currier of 5 Clover Court after their mobile home burned down last week. The fire, which occurred at about 8 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 5, was caused by a dryer’s heat build-up, said Fire Chief Kevin Pratt. Pratt said almost everything the couple owned, furniture, appliances and clothes, were destroyed. Pratt said the Curriers were able to sift through the debris and retrieve some family photos, coins and collectibles that were tucked in drawers. The couple wasn’t home at the time of the fire.

PALMDALE -- The mother and brother of an 11-year-old boy killed in a house fire believed to have been ignited by a clothes dryer have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the appliance's manufacturers and others. Lashaul Drye died and his 12-year-old brother was hospitalized after they were apparently overcome by smoke when a late-night fire gutted their two-story home in the 300 block of Alamosa Avenue in January 2004. "The dryer ignited a fire, which spread throughout the Drye residence, injuring the plaintiffs ... and causing the death of Lashaul Drye," the lawsuit said. The lawsuit was filed by Drye's mother, Sherry Drye, and his brother, Mikquail, in Antelope Valley Superior Court. The defendants include Sears, Roebuck and Co.; Whirlpool Corp.; the home's builder; a company that helped design and construct the dryer ventilation system; and five people who were former owners of the house. The lawsuit faults the tract house's dryer vent system, which ran about 17 feet through a concrete porch located outside the front door. The dryer vent ended at the porch's edge and had a louvered cover and screen. "The dryer ventilation system, including the vent cover, was constructed in such a way that lint was unable to escape the tubing and consequently backed up along the 17 feet of dryer tubing," the lawsuit said. The lawsuit also said the dryer's manufacturers failed to design the appliance adequately to shut down when the ventilation system became obstructed or the temperature rose to a dangerous level. The younger boy was found lifeless in a front upstairs bedroom, within a few feet of the window firefighters broke to get inside, and the older boy was in another room upstairs. According to a family friend, the older boy had been sleeping downstairs, and may have gone up to get his brother. After calling 911 and running outside, Sherry Drye cut her face and hands breaking windows trying to get back in to rescue her sons. When firefighters arrived, she was standing in the front yard screaming that her children were inside. The boys attended a private school in Los Angeles. Sherry Drye, a single mother, worked in real estate in Long Beach. The family bought the house in 1995.