Kansas mom issues warning after dishwasher catches fire as family slept
A mother of two is hoping to warn other homeowners after her dishwasher caused a kitchen fire while she and her family were asleep.
Simone Anderson, a stay-at-home mom from Topeka, Kansas, said the fire occurred in in the middle of the night on Aug. 7.
"My husband has to leave early for work in the morning, so he [said], 'Hey, don’t forget to start the dishwasher before you go to bed,' and then I stay up longer and that’s our every night routine," Simone Anderson told Fox News Digital in a telephone interview.
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She said she ran the dishwasher and headed to bed around midnight, but later woke up around 1:20 a.m. to the sound of smoke detectors going off.
Simone Anderson (pictured top right) said she and her husband Paul Anderson, and their daughters, 4-year-old Nola and 1-year-old Ansel, were able to escape their home safely after the dishwasher caught fire. (Simone Anderson)
"My husband and the kids were still sleeping, so I woke him up and asked him to go check and see what was going on."
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Simone Anderson said her husband went downstairs to the kitchen and saw the dishwasher "completely engulfed in flames."
Simone Anderson said she typically runs the dishwasher every night before bed. (Simone Anderson)
Paul Anderson wanted to try and extinguish the fire himself, but instead rushed his family out of the house as the flames grew by the second.
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"We got out of the house with just the clothes on our backs, nothing else," Simone Anderson said.
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She added, "It was just a matter of like two or three minutes by the time we got up and got out of the house before the entire place was completely full of smoke."
The family's kitchen has to be completely gut renovated, and the family will have to live elsewhere for at least six months. (Simone Anderson)
Firefighters were able to contain the blaze inside the kitchen, but soot covered everything throughout the house after the fire was put out, Simone Anderson said.
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Some dishwashing companies and product manufacturers say the best time to run your dishwasher is during low peak hours, such as at night, due to lower energy rates, but experts advise against it.
Several fire safety experts online say dishwashers, dryers and washing machines should not be run at night or while no one is home.
"If your tumble dryer, washing machine or dishwasher starts a fire at night – the fire may have more time to develop before you’re aware of it. And that’s if you have working smoke alarms to wake you up. If a fire starts at night and you don’t have working smoke alarms, this could be fatal," Officials with Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service, based in the U.K., wrote on the department's website.
Angi Orbann, Travelers Insurance vice president of property PI product management, confirmed that running a dishwasher while it's unattended is not advised.
"Running these devices overnight or while away from home can significantly increase the risk of an issue like a malfunction or potential for fire going unnoticed," she told Fox News Digital via email.
A mom is warning of potential safety issues that could arise from dishwashers after her kitchen was destroyed. (Simone Anderson)
Orbann added, "For optimal safety in the kitchen, all appliances should be plugged directly into wall outlets, as opposed to using extension cords or power strips, which can more easily overheat and cause fires."
The U.S. Fire Administration states that half of all home electrical fires involve home wiring or lighting equipment and that approximately 47,000 homes experience an electrical fire each year.
Simone Anderson said a fire investigator determined that frayed wiring deep within her 10-year-old dishwasher likely caused the fire.
She advised other families to regularly check smoke detectors, and to not run appliances at night.
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The Andersons have relocated to a local Airbnb while their home undergoes an estimated six-month renovation process.
The family has a GoFundMe page and is requesting donations.
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