Dryer lint blamed for Sunday morning house fire in Eudora

A fire that destroyed a house in Eudora Sunday morning was caused by excess dryer lint that ignited, investigators said today.

No residents were at the house, in the 900 block of Church St., when the fire was reported at about 9 a.m. by a passing motorist, said Eudora Fire Chief Ken Keiter. Eudora firefighters fought the blaze for more than four hours, joined by crews from Baldwin City, Eudora Township, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical and Wakarusa Township, but the house was ruined.

No residents were injured, but six firefighters were treated for heat-related symptoms at the scene and two were taken to the hospital, Keiter said. One firefighter was treated at the hospital for heat-related symptoms and another for a knee injury.

Workers from the Douglas County Chapter of the American Red Cross offered help to displaced residents, including a man and a six-year-old child.

Keiter said it wasn’t the first fire he had seen started by dryer lint. The lint is flammable, Keiter said, and when it accumulates in rear vents a stray spark or heat from the dryer can ignite it.

That appears to be what happened in this case, Keiter said, with the fire beginning in the dryer and spreading throughout the house. Keiter suggested regularly removing lint from the vents leading from the inside of a dryer to the outside of the house.