One Kansas mother found herself and her two kids without a kitchen after they left their dishwasher running during the night and it burst into flames .
The incident occurred in August when Simone Anderson loaded the kitchen appliance and turned it on before going to bed. Anderson and her two children were brought sharply back to reality when they awoke to their smoke detector going off at 1:25am.
Thankfully, everyone managed to evacuate the home and the fire department was able to swoop in and extinguish the flames before anyone got hurt. "This is your sign not to run your dishwasher at night," Anderson said in a TikTok that showcased the damage to her family's apartment. "Also go check your smoke detectors. Make sure they work. Like right now, go check!"
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In the video , Anderson reveals the scary reality that, had she not woken up when she did, there was a good chance that she and her boys would not have made it out alive. "Our smoke detectors saved our lives," she said.
Anderson continued: "Our walls were white by the way ... everything in the house is covered in soot." The woman revealed that it was also very hard to breathe in her home due to the lingering presence of smoke. She concluded the video pleading with viewers not to run the dishwasher at night.
" We are devastated. Please pray for my family. Check your smoke detectors. Don’t run appliances at night. It’s not worth the risk," the video's caption read. Since being posted, the video has gained 1.7 million views.
Viewers of the video were left divided on how to feel. "It literally tells you on the package do not run unsupervised," one user commented. "Running it in the day versus night doesn't change anything, if there's an issue like faulty wiring or maintenance it can happen at any time," another person stated.
"My mom 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. hopefully, it can help one person." Other people were more compassionate toward the family.
"I’m SO sorry Simone. I run my dishwasher every single night and never will again. Sending your family SO much love & prayers," one person sympathized. A second person said: "I had a house fire in 2005 it was in the basement but the smoke left the entire house destroyed. That’s something people who haven’t experienced it just don’t understand. Praying for your family."
"Thanks to your video I finally replaced my smoke detector batteries, which I was procrastinating for a few days. So: thank you," a third person stated. "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," a fourth person said.
Since the fire, a GoFundMe page has been started to help pay for the family's repairs. As of Monday, the page has only raised $125 of its $10,000 goal.
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