Not leaving a candled unattended is a good general policy. A lot of fires start by candle.
I had to use a powder extinguisher in one of our Organic Chemistry labs once (a small amount of hexane had spilled, gotten to close to a bunsen burner, and “whoosh”). The cleanup took a large part of one day and was a real pain. The fire did go out really quickly though.
(Italics mine)
This is very bad advice and may invalidate your insurance.
You absolutely must notifiy them. It is almost invariably a condition of the insurance. What you do is say that there has been an incident for which you do not expect to be making a claim but you reserve the right to do so later.
Thanks all for the good wishes! It was pretty nerve wracking, and sure could have been a lot worse.
Regarding informing or not informing the insurance - I work with a bunch of attorneys who do insurance claims, and they all say my rates shouldn’t be affected by this, but to let them know if they are increased. One mentioned that it would have been more complicated if the fire had been caused by negligence on my part (burning cigarette in mattress or unattended candle, etc.) - but a dryer, and me being at home at the time, would not fit in that category. We’ll see - and I will keep an eye out for any letter of change to my policy.
Regarding the type of fire extinguisher - had no idea the differences and will certainly opt for the CO2 version. My cousin, who is a retired fireman, also told me to get a CO2 and he suggested we go to the fire station and have them show us how to work it as supposedly it is a little tricky, especially if you are slightly crazed while it is happening (see above where I called 411 instead of 911).
We changed the airconditioning filters last night - wow! They looked like pieces of charcoal! Solid black and coated thick! And this was a short small fire!
Again - thanks for the good wishes, but use this little tale as a word of warning!!
Do not leave gas dryer on when you leave the house!
Buy the damn fire extinguishers you have been threatening to buy anyway!
Change the batteries in your smoke alarms!
Learn the difference between 411 and 911!
The advantages of a dry powder extinguisher are that they’re very stable, and much cheaper than a similarly effective CO[sub]2[/sub] extinguisher.
The disadvantages of the CO[sub]2[/sub] are two-fold. First they’re much more expensive. Roughly five times the cost of a similarly effective dry powder one. Secondly, they can build up a static charge if you don’t keep the cannister in touch with the ground or floor. That may be the trickiness your cousin is talking about.
You hopefully will never need to use them, but if you do, I think that CO[sub]2[/sub] is the way to go. Of course, I’m lazy: I prefer to keep clean up to a bare minimum.
A third vote for the CO2, and while you’re at it, think about replacing the gas dryer with an electric one, making sure that the breaker for the dryer is a GFCI (commonly known as GFI, ask your electrician) which will, in most cases shut the power to the thing off, thereby removing one side of the fire tetrahedron. Your cousin is correct about the actions on the CO@ extinguishers. Here’s the Straight Dope, if you will.
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They’re loud. The noise can be startling, so be aware of it.
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They’re cold. You have to hold where the hand grip is, if you grab the bell anywhere else, you can burn yourself (it’s that cold)
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They’re (sometimes) heavy, making them slightly unwieldy.
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Generally, there’s no indicator as to whether or not you’re out of juice, other than the fact that there’s nothing coming out of the bell.
Otherwise, they’re the same as any other extinguisher, and their operation can be broken down into several steps…
PULL the pin out
AIM the extinguisher at the base of the fire.
SQUEEZE the handle.
SWEEP back and forth until either the fire is out, or you run out of extinguishing agent.
P.A.S.S. Neat huh?
Before you go in to extinguish any fire, make sure you have a way out, and never, ever EVER turn your back on the fire. Did I say NEVER?
Also…
Trust me when I say that Asterion’s advice is not good advice. Don’t make any room in your home airtight, and as if it’s not already obvious, don’t spend money on an extinguishing system, be it Puron or some other halon alternative.
I’m glad there was minimal damage, and thankfully no injuries.
Best of luck with your insurance.
There is enough misinformation floating around this thread, that I highly suggest before you purchase your fire extinguishers, you visit a reputable fire equipment dealer, or your friendly neighborhood fire station to get good recommendations.
Neither Purple K dry chemical, nor Carbon Dioxide extinguishers carry an A rating, which is any combustible material, such as lint, or clothing that you might find in a dryer. While both MAY temporarily snuff your fire, neither is designed to put it out and keep it out.
Your best bet for the laundry room is a multi-purpose ABC dry chemical fire extinguisher for value and effectiveness. I mean who cares about having to replace a 300 dollar dryer, the purpose is to save your house, right? And while you are shelling out the money, don’t buy a cheapo plastic version, look for a quality all metal body and head and remember to have the darn thing serviced every few years. I recommend Amerex.
If money is no object, you can look into one of the new gasses that has replaced Halon 1211, of which there are many. Around my area, it’s mostly Halotron.
Pressurized water and foam extinguishers shouldn’t be over looked for certain hazards either.
Whoosh? 
If it was a Whoosh, I missed it.
Actually Bare 15 years of putting out fires for a living tells me that a CO2 extinguisher will not only put out a dryer fire, but will keep your house from becoming a dustbowl in the process. I’ve seen and had to help clean up the dry chem aftermath. The crap gets everywhere, and in my opinion, needlessly so.
Since this thread was directly related to a dryer fire, even hinting that a pressurized water unit would suffice is dangerous advice.
Actually buttonjockey308, if you want to get pissy about it, I have 30 years of selling the product you say is putting out dryer fires and I challenge you to show me where dryer fires ever have strictly a BC rating.
Facts are, dryer fires are usually lint, clothing, gas leak or electrical problem.
I know, I know, fire tetrahedron… where is the chemical reaction with a dryer and it’s contents. It’s still fire triangle, nine times out of ten.
You started off with P.A.S.S. which we all know is good information. Why would you purposely give bad information to folks about the proper fire extinguisher to use on a particular fire?
CO2 has it’s place, but a dryer fire it ain’t! But if you think it is, show me the code.
The reality is that no one on a message board can accurately determine the extinguisher with which to lead off unless they’re there to see the fire situation. If I’m on scene in the early stages, I might go in service with a CO[sub]2[/sub] or a 2½ gal PW containing 2% Pyrocap as opposed to pulling a 30# ABC dry chem, just so I don’t crap up the joint with dry chem. Class A combustibles can be extinguished with CO[sub]2[/sub]. Just make sure that you have self contained breathing apparatus, as the extinguishing agent will displace breathing air in the room, and death via anoxia during the extinguishment phase makes you look like a boob.
Thank you danceswithcats, I am in complete agreement with you. However, you are looking at the situation as a fire fighter. I am proposing the same situation as a homeowner.
What would you recommend for a homeowner purchasing as a fire extinguisher to quell a dryer fire? Or any fire for that matter?
If you tell me CO2, I’m gonna come slap ya!
Bare, just so you don’t think I was talking completely out of my hat - my firefighting training was in the Navy and we’d always been told that the ubiquitous CO[sub]2[/sub] were the extinguisher to start with on any small fire. Or to use for clearing an escape route for that matter. Granted, my training is now about 12 years out of date, and to give you an idea how conservative the training establishment there is: I was just beginning to be trained on the fire tetrahedron when I left the Navy. (Most of the old salts at the time were really confused about the difference between a tetrahedron and a square, too.)
As the one who first suggested CO[sub]2[/sub], I accept the correction that CO[sub]2[/sub] is no longer rated ABC. I still believe that at one point it had been rated that way. I can believe that a CO[sub]2[/sub] isn’t the ideal extinguisher for a dryer fire.
Having said that - I’d still go with one for immediate use, even in the home. And I do believe it’s still a better choice for a general home extinguisher, where most fires will be fought while small enough to be susceptible to most any extinguishing agent. Or will work to clear an evacuation route. Of course I’m the sort who looks at household fires as having one great luxury: One can always just go outside and watch the structure burn down. It’s not a pleasant result, by any means, but there isn’t the pressure to fight the fire at all costs that is faced aboard ship.
(Just out of cursiousity, and in a spirit of friendly snarkiness, wtf is the use of using a BC only extinguisher on a C fire, once power has been secured to the involved equipment? At that point there’s no longer the eletrical component to the fire, and much of what will be burning will be class A materials. There are some B materials, too, that will likely be involved, but mostly A.)
BTW, danceswithcats, have you ever heard of asphyxiation occurring while using a 5-10 lb charge CO[sub]2[/sub]? (The size that I’d think would be found in homes, if any.) My gut reaction is that I’m far more concerned about combustion products that I’ll ever be of CO[sub]2[/sub]. This isn’t to say that I don’t see the wisdom of having some kind of breathing apparatus, just that I really wonder how necessary it might be for household use.
For Harry Homeowner, I’ve got to go with a dry chem, because it’s easy to use for the untrained. What I use at my home is a different beast, but then again I’ve got more extinguisher power sitting around than the average engine company. 
I cannot cite or bring to mind any circumstances in which CO[sub]2[/sub] discharge was named as causal to an injury, but I prefer to play things safe, coming from an emergency services background.
I would add the word “sometimes” to the above sentence. I have seen it both work and not work, so you’re taking your chances. It would emphatically not be my first choice for a class A fire.
OtakuLoki, I don’t believe that CO2 has ever had a class A rating. I’ve serviced ones that date back to WWII and the label still says Class BC. Like I said in my first post, a BC extinguisher will snuff a combustible fire, but there is nothing there to keep the fire from re igniting. If you have a 20 CO2, which weighs nearly 50 pounds by the way, a small fire and all the time in the world to stand around in a smoky environment, you can keep snuffing that fire until the FD gets there to put out the fire with a hose, the ultimate class A extinguishment.
I didn’t necessarily think you were talking out your hat either, I just pegged you for NAVY. Whenever I have a customer insist on a CO2 over what I’ve suggested as the proper one, I just say YO. No sense trying to convince them otherwise, because the Navy drilled it into 'em at an early age.
That’s why they make an ABC rated extinguisher and it’s called for 9 times out of 10.
When I do demonstrations and training, I always have a couple 20 pound CO2’s on hand so folks can learn how to use them effectively. It’s almost a comedy to try to watch a 120 pound woman get a 50 pound extinguisher off the waist high bracket, drag it to the fire, P.A.S.S. and drop the whole works once they hear that roar. I think Dw/cats might even reconsider if he had to haul a CO2 up to a second floor dryer fire!