Well, another update... Apparently all we had to save for evidence were the burned items. This afternoon, another employee brought a basket of rags into the kitchen, and I asked where they came from. She said that they were the ones salvaged from the dryer, and the director had her wash and dry them at their house. (they have TOL LG front loaders). I replied with "Oh.. Okay.." and sorted them into their proper baskets. There were a couple of the oven mitts that had survived, but they smell horrid, probably will need to be thrown out, and I would imagine the towels and dish cloths will also... I thought they were ok until they got wet, then they smelled like smoke. I was a bit less than thrilled. Also, according to the same person that brought them in, we aren't allowed to use any bleach in the washer, and if the dryer is repaired or replaced, everything is to be dried at the lowest heat setting. That should work out well.... Guess I will be taking the kitchen linens to the Laundromat or home on weekends to be washed. Maybe our dryer will catch fire... or most likely not! It just baffles me that people follow far worse laundry practices, cold water, no bleach, short cycles etc, and most likely wash and dry far worse things, but almost never hear of a fire, and even then, it is most likely caused by lint rather than chemicals in the laundry. I honestly hope that when the service person comes out Monday, they find some catastrophic failure in the dryer, whether it be the control board, thermostats, broken belt, SOMETHING that will prove the fault wasn't mine. I have not been confronted as guilty, but feel I'm being blamed, even without words. Yes, I started the dryer, and yes it was at the highest heat setting, but no dryer should set clothes on fire without some failure. The latest addition to the story was that at 11pm when the daughter got home, the dryer was still running with 58 minutes to go... she was getting ready for bed around 11:30 and the dryer was off, but she had smelled smoke for 15 minutes- she thought it was a campfire outside, and went to shut the back door only to discover the basement full of smoke. She told me there was a lot of smoke coming from the back of the dryer, and when she opened the door, a cloud of smoke came out and flames started. She said the dryer was very hot, and she threw a bucket of water inside, ran upstairs and got the kids out to the car. She came back and threw the still smoldering rags outside, and they caught fire again on the sidewalk. I'm starting to wonder if the story is true, or if it may have been intentionally set. She had climbed all over me that afternoon while I was doing my laundry for using too much bleach and stinking her house up, using too long of cycles on the washer and dryer, and washing too small of loads. I tried to explain that the load sizes didn't matter, the washer automatically set the water levels, and the rags needed to be sanitized, but she got an attitude and stomped upstairs. Just to clarify, she holds no position to give me or anyone else orders, I am the kitchen manager and she is a lifeguard. She doesn't pay any bills, so the water and electricity use is not her business either.. The director, yes, but I hadn't heard any complaints from him or his wife. I just respectfully and politely told the daughter I would take care of the kitchen laundry, and she could continue to do hers. Do I think there is a possibility the fire was intentionally set? Yes. We will see the outcome after the investigation has been done though.
