By Ryan Duffy
First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Jonathan and Michelle Warner's dryer caught on fire while they were asleep. When they woke up the house was filled with smoke.
"We've always known it could be a problem, hear stories about how it could be a problem," says Jonathan Warner.
But in June it happened to them. The flames gutted their home.
Their fire was from a dryer malfunction, but Tom Francis with Jacksonville Fire and Rescue says usually these fires start from lint.
"If you take a handful, put it on a mound somewhere and take a match to it, would be surprised how quick it light up, very flammable," says Francis.
But dryer fires can also start from something you can't see.
There is an easy test for your lint trap, even if it looks mostly clean.
Run water through it and if the water beads up instead of going through there could be a waxy residue on the lint trap and the only way to get rid of it is with soap and scrubbing.
"I tell everybody now, don't even think about going to the grocery store with the dryer on, it's just that quick," says Warner.
Fire officials say that's good advice, never leave the dryer on when you leave the house or go to bed.
And also check the plastic tubing going in and out of the dryer, lint builds up inside there too.
For more on dryer fires and prevention read the U.S. Fire Administration's study on the fires at this link:
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/tfrs/v7i1.pdf
First Coast News