Dawn Houston was watching a movie about wildfires, “Only the Brave,” around noon Wednesday when a fire broke out in her home. Houston, 52, heard her dryer making strange noises as it dried a few towels. When she walked into the laundry room, she found it full of smoke. Houston grabbed her fire extinguisher, yelling to her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend for help.
She entered the smoke-filled room and aimed her extinguisher at the dryer, but the extinguisher didn’t work. She thought quickly, calling 911 and running outside to ask for help from her neighbors as her daughter and daughter’s boyfriend began to fill buckets of water in the house.