A significant amount of lint in a dryer caused a fire to a senior living community in northeast Bend Tuesday. According to a news release from Bend Fire & Rescue: At 9:35 am on Tuesday, October 17, Bend Fire & Rescue was dispatched to a fire alarm activation at a local senior independent living community. On arrival, many residents had already evacuated outdoors.
A small fire was found in a third-floor laundry room. Staff on site had attempted to extinguish the fire with a fire extinguisher, holding the fire in check until fire crews arrived. The fire was quickly extinguished, but there was a significant amount of smoke on the third and fourth floors of the four story building, requiring an extended amount of time and resources to ensure the air was clear before allowing residents to re-enter the building. As many as eight residents may be temporarily relocated until a restoration company can address the smoke odor and damage. Losses are estimated at $10,000 to the structure (primarily due to smoke damage on the third floor) and $5,000 to contents.
Upon investigation it was determined that a significant build up of lint was present beneath the filter assembly, next to the drum. This accumulation ignited and spread to the lint filter and contents of the dryer. The dryer was in operation at the time of the fire and had been operating continuously for approximately 45 minutes.
Did you know the leading cause of clothes dryer fires is failure to clean them? Bend Fire & Rescue encourages cleaning the lint filter every load of laundry, and cleaning the vents and housing around the dryer periodically to prevent lint build up. More dryer safety tips can be found here: https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/
