Last Night the Dryer Caught Fire

[dreamshark]

That was sure fun. We kinda knew the dryer was wearing out, what with the clunking noise it was making and all, but we didn't expect it to burst into flames. Well, smoke mostly, but a lot of smoke. It wasn't lint caught in the dryer chimney like most dryer fires; something on the underneath side of the appliance actually caught fire and scorched the bottom of the drum so badly that the clothes in the drum started to burn. This was at 3 am, which is when the people I live with think is a good time to do laundry. Fortunately I just happened to get up to use the bathroom, smelled the smoke and yelled downstairs to Richard, who hadn't noticed a thing. He ran down to the basement and heroically pumped the dryer full of water from the nearby laundry sink. The house still reeks of smoke, but at least we still have a house. And naturally, like most Americans, we had let the batteries go dead in all our smoke detectors. Bad move.

Must buy a dryer tomorrow, I guess. And maybe some batteries?