Dryer sparks mobile home fire

A dryer overloaded with lint was to blame for a fire that caused $10,000 in damage at a Petaluma mobile home Wednesday evening.

A man was watching television just before 6 p.m. in his double-wide mobile home in the 700 block of North McDowell Boulevard when he heard a loud pop from his laundry room. When he spotted the flames, he helped get his daughter out before a neighbor helped him extinguish the flames with a garden hose. The neighbor experienced smoke inhalation but did not require medical care.

By the time the Petaluma Fire Department arrived, only light smoke could be seen inside the residence. PG&E was called to shut off the power so firefighters could inspect the laundry room and investigate the fire's origin. The determined that an excessive buildup of lint in the dryer provided the catalyst for the blaze. There were no smoke detectors in the home.

Although the fire was confined to the laundry room, the entire structure was deemed uninhabitable, and the resident and his daughter had to stay with a friend.

Dryer fires were the cause of one out of every 22 structure fires in the U.S. from 2006-10. In 2010, approximately 16,800 fires sparked by dryers caused 51 deaths, 380 injuries and $236 million in property damage, according to the National Fire Protection Association.