A bundle of cotton dishrags started a fire in the laundry room of a multi-unit residential building in the Mendenhall Valley after they spontaneously combusted while being run through a drying machine Tuesday morning.
After investigating the fire, the Capital City Fire/Rescue fire marshal’s office concluded that the rags were likely used to clean cooking oil, which caused them to ignite when heated in the dryer, Fire Marshal Dan Jager wrote in a press release.
The fire, which occurred in the 9200 block of James Boulevard, didn’t spread beyond the laundry room in part because of the efforts of two building residents, according to CCFR.
One resident smelled smoke coming from the laundry room, and another resident used a fire extinguisher to quell most of the flames. Firefighters finished extinguishing the blaze, which was confined to the dryer unit, after they arrived.
Though the fire didn’t escape the dryer, the laundry room did suffer an estimated $4,000 worth of smoke and heat damage.
Cleaning cooking oil with cloth rags is not advised for this very reason, CCFR said. Washing machines sometimes fail to clean all of the oil out of the cloth, which can combust when subjected to the heat of a dryer.
In a press release about the investigation, Jager recommended that people use paper towels instead of cloth rags to clean oily kitchen messes, especially if they involve linseed oil.
• Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.
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