The Seattle P-I reports a dryer fire yesterday around 63rd and Latona:
Seattle fire crews were called to the report of a Wallingford house fire Tuesday afternoon, and found the small blaze started by a dryer in the basement, department spokeswoman Dana Vander Houwen said.
Firefighters were called about 12:15 p.m. to the 6300 block of Latona Avenue Northeast, but no one was believed to be in the home when the fire started.
Crews were ventilating the home about 12:30 p.m., and a damage estimate was not immediately available.
Please people, remember: you’re meant to put wet clothing into dryers, not light fires in them. That’s what fireplaces are for.
(Photo courtesy of My Green Lake. Thanks to Jacqui for the tip!)
Am I the only one that finds this jab to be in extremely poor taste?
When I was a kid, our dryer caught fire. It was a pretty exciting afternoon and one of the reasons I always clean out the dryer lint and don’t leave the house with dryer going.
There’s a good post from the PI’s Seattle 911 blog about preventing dryer fires:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/archives/185439.asp
Nobody was hurt, it was “a small blaze”. Hopefully people can have a sense of humor even in the face of misfortune.
I wouldn’t call it a jab…more like satire . A jab, to me, would be more like, “C’mon people. It’s time to crack open the wallet and replace that 1950’s dryer.” Or something like that. I’m not so good at jabs…or satire.
It is usually a lint build-up problem. I once was talking to a new homeowner, must have been a new dryer owner, too, as they proudly showed me about their home. We got to the laundry room and somehow removing the lint came up, and they just gave me a blank stare…never done it in the 3 months they had owned the home (and dryer). We had an adventure getting it cleared out….That would be a sad way to lose a new home.
wow seattle alan! you’re sayin’ there are people who still don’t know to clean the lint trap?! unbelievable. and whether it was a jab or satire… whatever. i like it. it keeps the blog loose. and if it can be determined that the fire was caused by an uncleaned lint trap, they don’t deserve to have one.
Gollee — who knew this would be this week’s most controversial topic? My response was going to be “Please, people, remember that you’re supposed to clean the lint out of your entire dryer venting system” — if only I knew how! I know how to clean the filter, but am completely stumped about how to clean out the entire ductwork in my not-so-old, stacked system. In the meantime, note to self: do not turn the dryer on and then leave the house. Let’s not get too snarky here!
In short: Ian, sorry, but it is just you. 🙂 The light tone of this blog makes me follow it – and Wallywriters have the good sense to know when it’s okay to jest, and when it’s not. I am also enjoying this great discussion about lint, too.
No, really, Senor Tyler, the new homeowners didn’t have a clue….Sheltered life, I guess.