From Seven On Your Side. An
alarming situation in kitchens nationwide: microwave ovens are catching fire and
destroying homes. The even scarier part? It's happening when they're not even
turned on. Ross McLaughlin is live in the newsroom with details... Ross?
Ross: The microwaves in question
are all allegedly General Electric above-the-range microwaves. A nationwide
class-action lawsuit is soon to be filed against GE.
We use them every day... But never
expect this...
911 call: "I came home. The whole
kitchen is full of smoke."
Operator: "okay ma'am... Just get
everyone out of the house, okay?"
According to fire investigators,
the fire in Ann Maus kitchen started in her General Electric microwave.
Bob Carter/ Hudson, Ohio Fire
Chief: "We determined that the origin of the fire was in the microwave, in the
area of the control panel."
But Mau says the microwave wasn't
turned on. In fact, she wasn't even home at the time!
Ann Mau/ fire victim: "what's most
puzzling to me is how this could happen."
According to attorney Hassan
Zavareei, Mau's GE microwave isn't the only one that has mysteriously turned on
and gone up in flames.
Hassan Zavareei/Attorney: "we have
seen reports in at least 20 states across the country, and implicating about 20
models of the GE microwaves."
Zavareei wants GE to alert
consumers and replace these allegedly defective and dangerous microwaves.
Hassan Zavareei/Attorney:
"obviously it can lead to very tragic circumstances, so it is a very dangerous,
serious situation."
General Electric responded "we are
not ruling out the possibility of a malfunction..." but "we are also looking at
other information."
The company also said it has an
admirable safety record, and of its 12-million microwaves in use, "these types
of random failures are rare..." "and do not indicate a systemic problem."
But fire victims like Mau want
further investigation.
Mau: "it's scary to think what
could have been."
Ross: The consumer product
safety commission says if you have an issue with your microwave, report it. The
commission investigated similar complaints five years ago, but failed to find a
defect.
