Dishwasher started fire in boy’s Limassol home

Authorities say an unsupervised dishwasher caused a home fire in Limassol that threatened the life of a 12-year-old boy on Thursday.

The fire broke out in the morning, just before 8am, in the boy’s family home in Kato Polemidia, with the young child remaining in his bedroom for safety.

Neighbours got wind of what was going on and notified authorities, while an off-duty fire fighter who was in the area sprang into action.

The fire fighter took a ladder and used it to climb to the boy’s bedroom window on the first floor.

The two remained inside the room, as they couldn’t escape due to smoke and hot gases on the other side of the closed door.

Fire fighters who arrived to the scene broke a glass side door on the ground floor and gained access inside the home, while putting out the fire and letting air come into the house.

The boy was brought to safety through the internal stairway while there were no reports of injury or smoke inhalation.

Fire fighters later discovered that a dishwasher had been running unsupervised on the ground floor, saying the electrical appliance had started the fire without giving any further details. 

Fire Service department spokesperson Andreas Kettis issued a warning to the public on Friday, asking people to be cautious with home electrical devices.

“These appliances should never under any circumstances be put to use without supervision, just like what happened yesterday, where a child was under immediate danger,” Kettis said.