Unattended laundry spontaneously combusts in Etna laundromat fire

Unattended laundry started a dryer fire that firefighters quickly knocked down Wednesday afternoon at the Wash and Wear Laundromat at the corner of Dewey Street and Crescent Avenue in Etna.

Firefighters were on their way to another scene when the dryer fire was called in by a patron of the laundromat, said Greg Porter, chief of Etna Volunteer Fire Department.

“Luckily, we were already out and were able to knock down the fire within four minutes,” he said.

The blaze was contained to just one dryer, which, with the early arrival of the fire department, prevented its spread to other parts of the one-story building, Porter said.

Someone left the laundromat while a load of oil-stained rags and towels dried, said Porter and Russ Kniffin, a former owner of the laundromat who still helps out there.

Kniffin doesn’t know how long the laundry was left drying, but he seemed sure of the end result.

“These dryers go from 180 to 190 degrees to boil off the water from the clothes,” Kniffin said. “When the dryer stops, the oil in the rags self combusts.”

Clothes that have come in contact with flammable agents, such as gasoline, paint thinner or similar solvents, should not be put in a dryer. They, instead, should be dried outside, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

If someone would have been there to take the rags out of the dryer, there would not have been a problem, Kniffin said.

Porter said a similar incident happened recently in a Millvale laundromat fire.

Except for some water and a smoky odor, damage at the Etna laundromat was contained to the one dryer.

As firefighters left the scene shortly after 3 p.m., the laundromat was open and ready for business.