House Fire Injures Two Minors in Pasco
Up in the Tampa area, a tragedy was narrowly averted when two teenagers were rescued from a house fire caused by a malfunctioning clothes dryer. Around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, a neighbor noticed flames in the home and called firefighters, who rescued a teenage girl, a teenage boy and a cat. Fortunately, the rest of the family wasn’t home. The boy remained at Tampa General Hospital, according to the report, but the girl has been released. I am delighted that nobody was killed and wish them a speedy and full recovery.
According to the article, the fire was started when the dryer overheated because of a clogged lint screen. But it was exacerbated because the house’s smoke detectors weren’t working, making them unable to warn the teens that they were in danger. House fires are the most common type of fire in the United States, according to the American Burn Association, and faulty electronic appliances or wiring are one of the most common causes of house fires (after cooking and smoking accidents). According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency responsible for monitoring product defects, clothes dryer fires caused more than 15,000 fires in one year, causing 20 deaths and 370 injuries.
If it turns out that the dryer was designed or manufactured in a way that made this fire unreasonably likely, that would make it defective -- which means this family would likely have a defective product lawsuit. Of course, they and every family should have working smoke detectors -- but as minors, the teens were hardly responsible for that omission.
The article doesn’t say what injuries the teen suffered, but statistically, they’re most likely to have smoke inhalation injuries and contact burns, both of which can be serious and life-threatening injuries. Severe burns can also leave their victims disfigured, causing discrimination from thoughtless strangers and necessitating years of expensive corrective surgeries. If you or someone you love has suffered these sorts of serious injuries because of a defective product, you have the right in Florida to hold the product’s manufacturer or seller responsible for the results. Contact Cohn, Smith & Cohn for a free evaluation of your product liability case.
