A family-of-four are lucky to be alive after their dishwasher burst into flames in the middle of the night.
Mum-of-two Simone, from the US, loaded the kitchen appliance on the evening of August 7 and turned it on before going to bed.
Little did she know at 1.25am the dishwasher was alight with flames and started burning down the kitchen before the smoke detector went off, waking the family.
Luckily they evacuated to safety and the fire department arrived swiftly to extinguish the flames.
‘We are devastated. Please pray for my family. Check your smoke detectors. Don’t run appliances at night. It’s not worth the risk,’ Simone warned and posted a video.
The fire causes thousands of dollars in damage and destroyed the kitchen, leaving the family having to find somewhere else to live for up to six months while cleaning, restoration and renovation takes place.
While the couple have home insurance, it doesn’t cover all costs and they need to fork out more than $3,500 along with additional moving fees.
Turning on your dishwasher at night is a common mistake among households worldwide, and majority likely aren’t aware of the risks as the appliance can overheat and cause a fire.
Turning on your dishwasher at night is a common mistake among households worldwide, but it poses the risk of housefires. This is what happened to an American family whose dishwasher caught alight while they were sleeping (pictured)
Simone’s house fire acts as a warning to other households to only run a dishwasher during the day while you’re home.
As dishwashers generate heat while operating, it’s best to monitor the appliance to minimise the risk of a fire. This also applies to dryers and washing machines for the same reason.
In this case, it isn’t clear if the appliance was faulty or if it simply overheated overnight to cause the fire.
Simone’s video has since been viewed more than 1.7million times and hundreds thanked her for sharing the warning.
A GoFundMe page was also created to support the family financially.
‘I run my dishwasher every single night and never will again,’ one commented.
‘I didn’t even know this was possible. I’ve never had an issue,’ another said.
‘My mum always told me to never leave the house or go to sleep with an appliance running! thank you for sharing and I’m so sorry for your loss,’ a third added.
‘I live in an apartment and it’s terrifying thinking about how many of my neighbors probably run appliances at night and while they’re gone,’ someone else wrote.
‘Thanks to your video I finally replaced my smoke detector batteries, which I was procrastinating for a few days. So thank you,’ another wrote.
‘I thought slow cookers were safe until one night while the slow cooker was finishing up it’s thing, I heard a lot popping and sputtering sound from the unit. I unplugged it and went to pick up the insert. The insert had literally split,’ one more added.