Local woman issues warning, says humidifier caught on fire

Dawn Cacka says her humidifier caught on fire - for no apparent reason - in the middle of the night.

A local woman is issuing a warning to people who use humidifiers, after hers caught on fire in the middle of the night.

Dawn Cacka says she first bought the Sunbeam Filter Free Warm Mist Humidifier (SWM5251-CN) for her father to use in his nursing home.

She says she's thankful that when the fire started, the appliance was at her house and not with her father.

"The fire alarm went off and my husband and I raced over to this area," Cacka said.

"This humidifier, water humidifier, was sitting on the floor on the tile here and there was probably three-foot flames coming out the top of it, straight up."

Cacka says the roughly five-year-old humidifier is supposed to automatically shut down when empty.

No one was injured and nothing - other than the humidifier - was damaged, so Cacka considers herself fortunate.

"There's the possibility it could have burned out in the middle of the floor but there's also a chance the house could have burned," she said.

A spokesperson for Jarden, the parent company of Sunbeam, tells CTV News:

"The company always takes consumer concerns seriously and investigates accordingly."

The spokesperson would not say if any similar humidifiers have caught on fire or if people with the product should be concerned.

Jarden says Cacka told them the humidifier was refilled while running for more than 24 hours.

The company says if this is the case, the instructions and warnings may not have been followed.

The humidifier's instruction booklet indicates the unit needs to be cleaned daily, if used often.

Cacka says her husband had worked on cleaning build-up just two days prior.

She hopes sharing her story will help other humidifier owners avoid any potential fires.

"I would say to people, if you're going to use them, make sure they're on tile or a cookie sheet or something that's definitely not flammable," she said.

Jarden promises to analyze Cacka's humidifier.

In the meantime, the company has sent her a replacement - but Cacka insists she's not using it.

"It just makes me nervous and we will not run one again," Cacka said.

With files from Laura Lowe