Thanks to Julie Slack at the Milton Canadian Champion, Fire Chief Ellsworth and Randy Korry from Milton Fire Department for their assistance in getting this message out.
In case anyone is wondering I used Iain at www.dryerventcleaner.ca for the work done and highly recommend him.
Councillor has close call with dryer
Mike Cluett shook with fear when he looked at the charred lint that was cleaned out of his dryer last week.
The distinct possibility that a fire was imminent left the Ward 6 councillor stricken with “what-if scenarios” — none of them good.
Cluett and his wife had just returned home from the New Year’s Eve bell-ringing ceremony at Town Hall, tossed a load of laundry into the dryer and sat down to watch television.
Moments later the smell of smoke brought both of them to the second-floor laundry room, but they couldn’t locate a source of fire.
Just to be safe, Cluett, who has lived in the house for three years, said he unplugged the dryer and the next day, contacted an area dryer vent cleaner.
When the cleaner disassembled the gas-operated unit, he asked Cluett to take a look.
“I was shaken when I saw what could have happened,” he said last week, when he sat down with the Champion and fire officials to alert residents to check their own dryers. “This was not a matter of if (it would catch fire), it was a matter of when.”
The cleaner showed him a charred mess of built-up lint that had singed a large portion of the interior dryer. When the drum was completely removed, the black remnants of ignited lint revealed just how close he had come to experiencing a fire.
In his case, his children’s bedrooms are located beside and down the hall from the laundry room.
Cluett said despite regular removal of lint from the trap after each cycle, lint was backed up in the outdoor exhaust duct.
A metal bird protector affixed to the outside of the house prevented the lint in the exhaust duct from properly escaping.
As a result, much of the pipe became blocked with dryer lint. Inside the house, near the gas source, the lint was charred and clearly showed signs of being ignited, Cluett said.
To prevent the build-up, Cluett had the metal cage removed and a louvered air vent installed to allow proper lint escape.
Milton Fire Chief Brian Ellsworth said he doesn’t have numbers, but acknowledged that lint build-up in dryers like Cluett’s has caused house fires in numerous cases across the province.
He suggested residents take measures to ensure this doesn’t happen.
“Check the outdoor ducts, and install a smoke alarm inside the laundry room,” he said.
Milton Fire Department (MFD) fire prevention inspector Barry Kory echoed his concerns, adding that people need to be made aware of the possibility that lint build-up can most definitely be the source of a fire.
“Regular maintenance is a must,” he said.
He also reiterated the importance of not running appliances when residents aren’t home.
“It’s simple, don’t run the dryer when you’re not at home,” Kory said.
In addition to adding a smoke alarm to the laundry room, Kory said the MFD is encouraging the public to install smoke alarms in the garage — another area that has been the source of fire for several house fires in Milton and Halton in the past.
Julie Slack can be reached at jslack@miltoncanadianchampion.com or on Twitter @miltonmusing.