Almost a year ago, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) launched SaferProducts.gov, a website that allows people to report unsafe appliances and check the safety history of various models. In its first year alone, the website logged over 6,500 complaints. One third of them had to do with appliances. 850 of them dealt with appliance fires. But those were just the fires that were reported on the website.
According to the CPSC, there are over 150,000 appliance fires every year. Between 2006 and 2008, theses fires were responsible for 3,670 injuries, 150 deaths and $547 million in property damage.
