Spontaneous combustion of freshly laundered towels and rags is being blamed for a fire Saturday in the laundry room of a five-story Aberdeen hotel.
Just after 4 a.m. Saturday, emergency personnel were dispatched to the 1000 block of Beards Hill Road in Aberdeen for the report of a laundry room fire at the Hilton Garden Inn.
The front desk staff smelled smoke and later discovered a basket of towels located in the laundry room smoldering. Staff was able to extinguish with a bucket of water. The automatic fire alarm alerted and guests safely exited the hotel.
Five firefighters from the Aberdeen Fire Department responded, but the fire had been extinguished by hotel staff prior to their arrival.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal estimated the fire caused $1,000 in damage to the contents of the room. There were injuries reported.
If this fire had happened in Bel air or Jarrettsville there would have been 100 volunteers show up. Kudo’s to Aberdeen for not wasting money.
Right, every single fire house with every single piece of apparatus.
Bunch of dudes walking around going “hut hut hut hut”
I think the problem is that when you have so few you end up with a ridiculous theory that towels and sheets just burst into flames on their own…seriously? Are all the hotels and motels checking out this new phenomenon?
Really? Wow, what did they launder those towels with that would cause them to ignite? Perhaps they came out of the dryer so hot that putting them in a large laundry basket caused them to ignite. If that is the case it sounds like it is time to clean out the dryer vents.
Here is an article about how this can happen: http://www.skynews.com.au/culture/offbeat/2015/08/13/why-do-towels-spontaneously-combust-.html
I always heard it was a “hot sheets” hotel. Turns out i is a hot towels hotel.