Do you turn off your coffee machine when you’re done using it?
A Comox Valley woman said she’s made it a habit to unplug the machine after her last coffee maker went up in flames.
“We ran in there and we saw the Keurig on fire. It was literally on fire, it had flames coming out the top of it,” Dee Luster told CTV News.
It happened at a summer cabin on Hornby Island.
“It was next to an open window and we had bamboo blinds and it just would have been a matter of time before they caught that because the flames were coming right above the machine,” Luster said.
The machine wasn’t brewing at the time, but was simply left plugged in, she says.
According to the company, Keurigs have a number of safety features including thermal protection devices designed to cut power to brewers if they malfunction.
The company has offered to replace Luster’s melted mess and have asked her to send it back to them to figure out what happened.
“I asked if they had any other problems with the machines and they said no they hadn’t,” Luster said.
However, in 2015 Oregon fire officials said it was a Keurig that caught fire and burned down an apartment.
“I looked online and found that there have been fires with coffee machines and I’m not sure if it’s Keurig or other brands,” Luster noted.
The Comox Valley Fire Department is advising people to use caution when it comes to appliances.
“Every house is full of electrical appliances of some sort,” Fire Chief Gord Schreiner said. “We recommend that if you’re not using them unplug them- whether these are toasters, coffee machines or so on, unplug it.”
Schreiner added coffee machines need extra vigilance.
“One of the things with coffee machines is overfilling the water reservoir and having that water leak into the electrical side and that could certainly cause you some problems,” he said.
With a report from CTV Vancouver Island's Gord Kurbis
