A man was shocked after his laundry “spontaneously combusted” in the middle of the night.
Andrew Donaldson, 35, from Rhode Island lost “90 percent” of his clothes due to a “freak fire.” He told Newsweek that on Monday night, he brought his laundry back into his apartment from the complex’s shared laundry room.
Then, in the middle of the night, at 4 a.m, he woke up to his eyes and throat “burning.” After searching, he discovered that the source of the fire was his basket of laundry that he had cleaned and put through the dryer earlier that night.
He alerted his girlfriend and brought the laundry outside, causing it to go up in flames when it hit the cold air. “Not sure if [it was] adrenaline or stupidity, but I tried to separate what was on actual fire from the rest of the basket,” Donaldson told Newsweek.
“When I did this, I burned my hand and fingers. It actually seemed to make it worse. I ran back inside, grabbed a bath towel, dunked it in my toilet, and than tried to smother the fire.
“That didn’t work, so I ran back inside, pulled the garbage bag out of my kitchen garbage can, ran to my bathroom, filled the can with my tub’s faucet, maybe a little less than half full of water, [and] dumped it on the fire, twice. The beast was finally slayed.”
Donaldson shared a photo of his burnt laundry to Reddit, revealing that one of the burning pieces of clothes “stuck to his finger like plastic.”
“I’m a cook, have been for 25 years, I have dozens of burns over the years, but this one is different,” he said in the post. “I know this is crazy, the odds are ridiculous, it is rare, but it happens. It can even occur with damp clothes as well. Just be careful.”
Laundry can spontaneously combust when inappropriate fabrics contaminated with combustible substances such as oils, fats, and grease are exposed to high temperatures generated in a tumble dryer, the U.K.’s Health and Safety Executive warns.
Work Safe BC says that laundry that is hot and has been stacked tightly can combust, especially if stored in a flammable basket or if in a hot area, such as somewhere in direct sunlight.
“The stench of smoke and fire is awful, but man, it could have been catastrophic as this is a multifamily apartment building,” Donaldson told Newsweek. “If my cat, girlfriend, any of my neighbors or their pets would have gotten hurt, I don’t think I would have ever been able to forgive myself.”
Other Reddit users took to the comments of the post to share their thoughts and experiences. One user, u/Accomplished_Water34, said: “I had this exact thing happen twice, years apart, at my work place. Both times it was from greasy rags and towels being laundered then dried.”
“I’ve seen freshly cleaned rags catch fire at restaurants twice now. It’s always good to spread out oily clothes or rags to cool off after drying,” said u/bluffstrider.
“I now am taking a mental note to dispose of oily rags or clothes properly and do not wash or dry them in the laundry,” u/Equivalent_Treat_823 shared.
Has your home ever turned into a nightmare? Whether it’s a burst pipe, unexpected renovations gone wrong, or any other house disaster, we want to hear your story. Let us know via life@newsweek.com, and your experience could be featured on Newsweek.
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