HomePod Saves Family's Life After Dog Starts Kitchen Fire

[MacRumors]

Apple's HomePod is being credited for saving a family in Colorado, alerting them to a house fire that was accidentally set by the family dog.

On June 26th, the Colorado Springs Fire Department received a call about a house fire, and shared the details and a video on Facebook. The homeowners were alerted to the fire by their HomePod, which woke them up in the early hours of the morning.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department claims the homeowners received a "high heat" notification from the HomePod, which alerted them to the fire, but the HomePod doesn't have a feature for sending alerts about high temperatures.

Instead, the HomePod has Sound Recognition, an option that is able to detect the sound of a fire alarm and send an alert. It's likely that the HomePod used Sound Recognition to detect the fire, and proceeded to send an alert to the homeowners to let them know what was going on. It is unclear why the family did not hear the fire alarm that the HomePod must have detected.

Sound Recognition on HomePod sends an alert to connected iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, but does not provide an audio notification. Sound Recognition can be turned on in the Home app by opening up the settings, going to Safety and Security, and toggling on Smoke and CO Alarm under Sound Recognition.

The fire started because the family's dog accidentally turned on the stove. The homeowners had several boxes on the stovetop, and when the dog got up on its hind legs to look at them, the stove knob was turned, activating the burner. The video shows the fire starting shortly after the dog hit the knob.

The homeowners were able to extinguish the fire before the fire department arrived, and there were no injuries aside from treatment for smoke inhalation.

Article Link: HomePod Saves Family's Life After Dog Starts Kitchen Fire

 

[StuBeck]

This is a very strange sequence of events, followed by a very strange explanation of how the home pod actually helped.

 

[ANDJOE]

Woooow this is real sus!

 

[ladboytick]

"accidentally" turned on the stove. It's reporting like this that lets these damned mutts keep getting away with it.

 

[icanhazmac]

By chance did one of the victims work for Apple's Marketing department or a PR firm?

 

[locovaca]

A good example of why you don’t put things on the stove top.

 

[JuicyGoomba]

If a dog is capable of turning on and igniting a stove, then questions need to be asked about the owners themselves more than anything.

Unless safety laws are drastically different in that country, then it would be physically impossible for the dog to do this with any cooker released in the last 10-15 years or more.

 

[EllieCat]

At least they are sage homestly.

 

[jz0309]

they keep boxes on the stove ...
the dog "accidentally" turns the knob ...
apparently the fire alarm (I guess smoke detector) went off ...
and the HomePod notifies the owners ...
there's a video of the whole thing ...

If this were published on April 1, I'd believe it

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Congrats on the hospital visit. Get monitored smoke detectors next time.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I think I know the perp.

 

[hop]

The Colorado Springs Fire Department claims the homeowners received a "high heat" notification from the HomePod, which alerted them to the fire, but the HomePod doesn't have a feature for sending alerts about high temperatures.

Though I don't think it's a publicly documented feature, it does seem feasible to me that the newer HomePods which have temperature sensors built in, might notify you if the temperature they're sensing is way too high, even if it's just as a "this might break your HomePod" thing.

 

[TonyC28]

Why didn’t the smoke alarms wake them up?

 

[@Brett]

Very sensitive mics as opposed to ears. I find my iPhone detects sirens before I do. This is a great feature though. Glad they are all ok.

 

[Doctor Q]

Toddlers are even more likely to turn stove knobs.

This is why controls for stove burners should be on top of the surface, not front-mounted. And if they are front-mounted, they should have toddler-proof covers.

 

[Wasp14]

If a dog is capable of turning on and igniting a stove, then questions need to be asked about the owners themselves more than anything.

Unless safety laws are drastically different in that country, then it would be physically impossible for the dog to do this with any cooker released in the last 10-15 years or more.

I believe there’s a video out there of how this happened and it’s pretty crazy how the dog turns the stove on. Happens within seconds.

 

[citysnaps]

Though I don't think it's a publicly documented feature, it does seem feasible to me that the newer HomePods which have temperature sensors built in, might notify you if the temperature they're sensing is way too high, even if it's just as a "this might break your HomePod" thing.

That makes sense.

 

[jz0309]

Why didn’t the smoke alarms wake them up?

but the notification on the iPhone did ... yea right... when the batteries in smoke detectors go out, the beep that almost always starts at night is most definitely way way louder than any notification on an iPhone ...

 

[samh004]

Though I don't think it's a publicly documented feature, it does seem feasible to me that the newer HomePods which have temperature sensors built in, might notify you if the temperature they're sensing is way too high, even if it's just as a "this might break your HomePod" thing.

Indeed, that’s the only thing I can think of but would love some confirmation it can actually do that?

In Australia the law is you need interconnected smoke detectors and there’s one inside each bedroom so it’s less of an issue but if you’re out the HomePod can alert me to a noise inside. Would love to know if high heat does the same.

 

[TechnoTiger3000]

Wonder how many people died hearing “Sure, here’s TikTok by Kesha” while asking the HomePod to call emergency services.

 

[now i see it]

Everything about this story sounds like it was made up by a 5 year old.
It’s preposterous

 

[victorvictoria]

I think I'll keep my Nest Protect smoke/CO detectors in place for now…

 

[teh_hunterer]

"the family's dog accidentally turned on the stove" bit of an assumption. Did anyone follow up with the dog to find out if it really was an accident or if the dog did it on purpose?

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

So a smoke alarm would have also worked. This story is laughable.

 

[nfl46]

Haha. Damn at the video of the dog actually doing it. I thought it was a joke at first.