Mum's warning after kitchen appliance erupts into flames at night: 'Glowing orange'

Simone said her family is lucky to be alive after her dishwasher suddenly went up in flames in the middle of the night.

Yahoo News Australia and agencies
Updated ·3-min read
The family's burnt kitchen after Simone's dishwasher erupted in flames. Inset, Simone and her two daughters.
Simone, 29, said switching on her dishwasher was part of her nightly routine. Source: Kennedy

A devastated mum has spoken out about the dangers of leaving electric appliances on overnight after her home was ravaged in a fire. Simone Anderson turned on her dishwasher as usual on the evening of August 7 before heading upstairs to bed.

The 29-year-old said switching on the kitchen appliance was part of her nightly routine to help clean the day's dirty dishes. However, within an hour of the mum-of-two falling asleep, she was awoken by the sound of fire alarms.

"My husband went to bed before me because he had to get up for work and said 'don't forget to put on the dishwasher'," Simone said.

"I didn't go to bed until midnight and at about 1.20am, I heard the fire alarms going off downstairs. I'm a light sleeper and I heard it and woke my husband up."

Simone's husband, Paul Anderson, ventured downstairs to see what was going on.

"He ran back upstairs and told me to get the kids and [that] we needed to get out the house," the stay-at-home mum and content creator said. "He said it was very surreal and the kitchen was glowing orange. He said there were flames coming out from below and beside the dishwasher. It was completely engulfed in flames."

Left, Simone and her husband. Right, the burnt dishwasher.
Within minutes, the house was full of smoke and the frantic couple grabbed their two children and ran outside before firefighters arrived. Source: Kennedy

Within "two or three minutes", the house was full of smoke and the frantic couple, who live in Kansas, US, grabbed their two children and ran outside before firefighters arrived.

"We went outside and called the fire brigade. I tried to go back in and get my glasses but the inside was completely full of smoke. It filled up with smoke so fast," Simone said. "The fire investigator said it was a malfunction deep within the dishwasher. If we hadn't heard the smoke alarms, we would've all just slept through it.

"I keep thinking about that, my nose was burning for days after that because of the smoke. Everything in the house was covered in soot."

The mum's house is now "unliveable", prompting the 29-year-old to warn others about the potential dangers of using electrical appliances overnight.

"After the day is done, I always put our dishwasher on before going to bed. A lot of people say that's dangerous and others were saying it's super rare," Simone said. "From my own research and speaking to firefighters, it's much more common than you think.

"From what I was told, don't use your appliances at night as if it were to start a fire, you wouldn't be able to stop it more quickly if I was awake."

The Andersons are living in an Airbnb until they rebuild their fire-ravaged home.

"As hard as it is to lose all our belongings — especially for my daughter as it was her birthday that day and she lost all her birthday goods — but the alternative would've been us not surviving," Simone said.

"I'm very thankful we made it out, we could've easily died that day. I had no idea how fast smoke moves. We would've just slept right through it.

"I was in disbelief that this had happened. I say to others don't run appliances while you're sleeping or not at home because fires can happen. It's easy to think 'this won't happen to me, I don't want this to happen to anyone else'. I'm just thankful that we're here and we're safe."

Kennedy News and Media/Eleanor Ovens

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