Lieutenant Daniel Ingram from the Pakenham Fire
By Justin Robertson
Fire crews from Pakenham and Nar Nar Goon were at the Union Avenue property within minutes after receiving the call at 11.30am and were able to contain the fire – caused by overloading – within the laundry of the home.
Reg Smerdon, who lives at the address with wife Tammy and four boys aged under seven – Corey, Nic, Alex and Toby – was visibly shaken by the incident.
“I was in the bedroom putting some clothes away when I heard the smoke detector go off,” he said. “I didn’t even think there was a fire in the house and it wasn’t until my wife started yelling and that’s when we called Triple-zero and rushed all the kids out.”
Mr Smerdon said he saw flames coming out of the dryer.
“The smoke detector saved our lives. If it wasn’t for that, we probably wouldn’t have known there was a fire,” he said. “The fire department was here so quick, I still can’t believe how fast they got here.”
Lieutenant Daniel Ingram from the Pakenham Fire Station said it had been a while since he’d been to a dryer fire, but said the situation had a tendency to escalate into something more serious if not dealt with quickly.
“We contained the fire to the laundry area and luckily no-one was injured or hurt,” he said. “The family did the right thing, had a fire plan and evacuated the fire without any harm which is what we like to see.”
Lt Ingram said the fire was accidental but cautioned the public to refrain from overloading dryers with too many clothes.
“Dryers will have a limit on how many items you can put in, so, just don’t exceed that limit,” he said. “It’s just a timely reminder that you shouldn’t overload your dryer.”
