Your dryer could be one heat cycle away from a house fire: the reason isn’t the lint trapYou empty the lint trap after every load. So if everyone cleans the lint screen, how are we still counting almost 3,000 dryer fires a year? The U.S. Department of Energy warns that periodically checking the dryer vent for blockages “can save energy and may prevent a fire” (4). Why “one heat cycle away” isn’t an exaggeration[IMAGE 3: The exterior dryer vent hood on the side of a home, close-up, showing lint and dust caked around the louvered flap. Sources: (1) U.S. Fire Administration, Clothes Dryer Fires in Residential Buildings report; (2) National Fire Protection Association, Clothes Dryer Safety Tip Sheet; (3) Maytag, How to Clean a Dryer Lint Trap; (4) U.S. Department of Energy / NFPA joint dryer fact sheet; (5) U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Overheated Clothes Dryers Can Cause Fires.