A presumably defective air fryer was the source of a blaze which razed, in just a few minutes, all the possessions of a family in Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton, in Chaudière-Appalaches, in mid-January.
“All we were able to save was the laundry we had on our backs and a telephone,” laments Gabriel Gagné, in an interview with The newspaper.
On the evening of January 18, his wife, Annie Cliche, was preparing to go to a union meeting when the tragedy occurred.
In less than 20 minutes, the house located on 8th row, in Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton, was submerged in flames.
Photo provided by Gabriel Gagné
As she has done dozens of times in the past, she placed fries in her “air fryer”, which she plugged into the oven socket, before going upstairs to dry her hair.
But just two minutes later, the smoke alarm went off.
- Listen to the family’s touching interview via QUB :
“I went down to the kitchen and there was literally a ball of fire where I had put the fryer! The fire was already reaching the cupboards and the curtains,” says M.me Cliche.
Built in the 1950s, the building was made primarily of Colombian wood.
Photo provided by Gabriel Gagné
Trapped
The 45-year-old woman quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher she had at home, desperately trying to put out the flames. But the device refused to work.
Mme Cliche and his 11-year-old daughter had no choice but to run out and call for help, in front of the astonished eyes of the father who was heading towards the house with his tractor.
“I tried to go back, but it was impossible, there was nothing more to do. Our dog Kino and our daughter’s two rabbits were trapped,” laments Mr. Gagné.
Kino, the family dog who was sleeping on the couch during the fire, did not survive.
Photo provided by Gabriel Gagné
Since the home dates back to the 1950s, the second floor began to collapse within twenty minutes of waiting for firefighters to arrive.
The municipality, located approximately 25 km north of Thetford Mines, had to call in reinforcements from the East Broughton and Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds firefighters.
The couple photographed on Tuesday in front of the land where their house was located.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
“At least we’re all here. It could have had much more serious consequences,” underlines Mr. Gagné.
The only things left on the land are the debris of the house and the wreckage of the couple’s car.
Photo provided by Gabriel Gagné
A defective model?
Terrified by the loss of their animals and the majority of their possessions, the couple wanted to tell their story when they learned that one of their acquaintances had experienced a similar situation with their cooking appliance.
In both cases, it was the T-Fal brand Actifry, a model that differs from the more recent air fryers that have enjoyed success in recent years.
“We want to prevent others from suffering the same fate,” explains Mme Cliche, who now lives with his in-laws with his family, a few steps from their old house.
It was this model of air fryer, Actifry from T-Fal, which caused the fire
Photo taken from Ebay
Although this is not the case for the model involved in the event in question, several air fryers have been subject to recalls recently.
Possible overheating in the wire connectors of Cosori and Insignia brand devices, in particular, represented a “potential fire risk,” according to the Government of Canada.
Groupe SEB, owner of T-Fal, had not responded to the Journal at the time of writing these lines.