A family of six that was displaced during a house fire in Colesville early Monday morning believes they were awakened by Amazon’s Alexa application, according to a Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service official.
Firefighters were called to a home in the 12600 block of Davan Drive in Colesville around 2 a.m. Monday, Fire & Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer told Bethesda Beat on Tuesday.
After the family members were awakened by the computer system, Piringer said they went to investigate and found smoke coming from the garage.
“As they attempted to enter the garage, the adults were forced back by the heat [and] smoke. So the four adults and two kids got out safely without injury,” he said.
Piringer said chargers for an electric bicycle and an electric lawnmower were plugged in. It’s possible that the cause of the fire is related to the chargers, but that hasn’t been determined yet, he said.
The fire caused about $175,000 in damage to the home and displaced the family, Piringer said.
Piringer said he’s not sure how often Alexa alerts house occupants to fires in their homes. In this case, family members said it was Alexa that woke them, but smoke detectors were also working inside the home, he said.
“We believe the smoke alarms also alerted the family,” he said.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@bethesdamagazine.com
