Samsung has determined that the knobs on some of its electric stoves are susceptible to being turned on accidentally by people or even pets. It is recalling one million stoves to make them safer by providing knob locks or covers.
After a Colorado house fire in June, investigators reviewed security footage and were surprised to see that a dog had pawed at the knobs of a stove while trying to sniff boxes that were on top of it, turned it on, and set fire to those boxes.
Several videos have shown pets accidentally igniting fires from jumping onto stoves and pawing at the knobs. A Colorado dog set off a house fire in June by doing just that, when the boxes on top of the stove caught on fire. It was all caught on the home's security footage.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said about 1.1 million units are affected. Samsung will provide free knob locks or covers for certain slide-in electric ranges with front-mounted knobs that were sold between 2013 and 2024.
"This announcement follows reports that front-mounted range knobs can be activated through accidental contact by people or pets, posing a fire hazard if flammable objects are left on top of the range," Samsung said in a press release.
CNN
According to USA Today, the homeowners of the Colorado fire were asleep at the time of the incident but were awakened by their Apple Homepod, which sent them a "High Heat" alert. A resident had extinguished the fire before firefighters got to the scene. Still, one person was hospitalized for smoke inhalation, the property suffered significant damage, and the family was displaced.
Previously:
• Man blames fire on dog
• A dog accidentally starts a fire in the house after checking out the stove (video)
• Video: Dog switched on stove that caused house fire
• An extinct dog breed once labored in our kitchens, running on spit-turning wheels
• An exuberant dog sets off a fire alarm and expresses no remorse
