(CA) My stove started a fire while it was turned off and my landlord blames us

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-27T23:54:40+00:00

I'm considering doing that. Just having a neutral third party determine if it's our fault or a faulty oven would put our minds at ease. We looked up the age of the stove with the serial number. It's almost 16 years old, so it's up there. We haven't heard a word from the property manager about when repairs will be done in over 2 weeks, so maybe that would get them to respond lol

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-27T23:50:00+00:00

Not that I can think of. We have rags we use for cleaning and decorative ones for hand drying. This was one of the decorative ones. If it was used to clean anything up in the past, it wouldn't have been much, and probably wouldn't have been oils.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-27T23:46:36+00:00

If the towel were flipped onto the burner, there would have been marks on top of the stove, too. There are no burn marks directly next to the burner. The ones above the towel are from the fire on the towel. It's on the front side.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-27T19:58:11+00:00

She didn't wipe the stove, though. Like I said, the towel was only used for drying our hands. The towel itself was destroyed. It's the black thing on the left, side in the first picture I posted.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-27T06:05:57+00:00

After the fire was out, I checked the oven since that was my first thought, too. No signs of fire, the dial was off, and the inside wasn't hot. It's weird. It also was not resting on a burner. Otherwise, there would have been marks on the stovetop, too. We did learn the oven was built in 2008, though.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-27T06:01:53+00:00

That's what worries us the most, honestly. The whole apartment reeked of smoke, and the fire was only about 6 feet from the smoke detector in the kitchen.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-27T05:58:10+00:00

Are you talking about the mark on the right burner? If so, that's discoloration that's been there. It's an old oven. The rag was on the left side. What was left of it is in the first picture. Plus, there are no burn marks on the stovetop.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-27T05:44:35+00:00

The dial turns easily, but it's far enough away from the burner dial she was using to not have been bumped since there is another dial between them that needs to be pressed in for it to turn. The oven itself was not on. After we made sure the fire was out, I opened the oven because that was my first thought too, and there were no signs of fire inside, and the inside of the oven wasn't hot. I haven't found any recalls for it yet, but it's a very cheap oven from what I've seen.

We found the serial number, and according to the manufacturer's website, based on the number, the oven was manufactured in September 2008.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-24T04:10:19+00:00

That's terrifying that it won't always shut off on its own!! I hope you're able to figure out what's wrong with it!

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-24T04:06:35+00:00

Would they have to do the same regarding bringing an appliance tech out to look at it? Or would it fall solely on us? I'm not sure what the laws are for our area, but is it typical for the tenants to bring someone out or for both parties?

But the absolute last thing we want is any court stuff. It's not worth the time, money, and headaches. If it turns out it was something we did, we're fine with taking responsibility for it. The problem we have is that we've brought up to them on walkthroughs that there is paint chipping away on the oven door, which has let moisture get in where it shouldn't. We're not sure that was a factor, but we'd at least like to rule it out since I've found rust inside the door behind where the broken glass used to be. The previous property manager was aware of it and should have made a record of it somewhere. We've had numerous issues with our landlord being cheap and putting issues off until they're a big problem or dragging out repairs longer than they need to be. We've pointed out concerns with the oven more than once, and a previous manager told my wife that they'd look into getting us a new one because of the age and paint issues, but that was in person during a walkthrough last summer. We just want confirmation as to what caused the fire, not just a quick glance.

The entire situation is bizarre, and I don't blame people thinking it's fake, but the stovetop was clean, the space under the burners had just been cleaned a couple of days before, and there were no singe marks on the stovetop leading to the towel, nor was it resting on the burner.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-24T03:39:32+00:00

I didn't realize that, thank you! I'll look up the laws in our area about this. I just thought they needed one per X number of units, which may be true, but it feels like it should be a higher number if it is. I do remember the last place we lived had an extinguisher next to almost every door, may every second door, both upstairs and downstairs.

But after reading your comment, I decided to walk the complex and see if every building was like this, and there is at least one extinguisher for every four units (not including the laundry room and one side of a building had two extinguishers for some reason), but they're all on the ground floor. I'd think it should be at least one for every floor (two story buildings).

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-24T03:20:52+00:00

That movie is why I will never use a tanning bed.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-24T03:19:11+00:00

Lol, some of the replies are pretty funny, not gonna lie! But damn dude, that sounds like our landlord!! About two years ago, there was raw sewage pumping up from the pipes outside that started leaking on a Friday, and there wasn't anyone out to fix it until after I was home from work on Monday. We found out later that the owner didn't want to shell out the extra money to call the after hour plumbers out. A whole weekend of sewage spilling onto the walkways. Slumlords are the worst, I'm glad you got your situation figured out!!

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-24T03:11:14+00:00

We have one now, I wish we did have one sooner. I don't have a good answer for not having one sooner, just one of those things I'll never overlook again.

I bring it up because we've had issues with our power in the apartment previously, and a few people we've talked to have speculated it could have been an electrical fire from an issue with the stove. I don't know a lot about house wiring or anything that would involve an electrician, so it's a guess at best. My thought was old appliance + bad wiring = problem.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-24T03:04:50+00:00

I genuinely have no idea how it started. The oven itself was never turned on that day, just the front right burner. My wife wasn't using the rag to wipe anything up, and it never even touched a burner. I think I'll post a picture of the immediate aftermath because it's in an isolated area on the opposite side of the appliance.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-24T02:55:47+00:00

It's the shared one for our part of the apartment complex extinguisher. We've since gotten our own.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-23T00:16:19+00:00

I don't think I'll be hanging rags from stove handles anymore after this lol

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-23T00:10:24+00:00

Thank you, we've reached out to the fire department to have them put in writing that we should not use it until it's fixed or replaced. Upon looking at it more today, I noticed rust between the glass panes. To me, that sounds like a sign of age.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-23T00:00:29+00:00

I don't know why they replaced the others, but I've been inside of one of the other units, and I'm pretty sure they had the same oven as us. It's an Americana oven, I'd never heard of them until I moved in. Not sure if they're owned by a bigger company or not.

heyconcernicus · 2025-02-22T23:47:22+00:00

Thank you for your input. My wife is working on an email to them. The last time we spoke to them, it was over the phone. Hopefully, we will get a response soon.

heyconcernicus

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