About the only way a drier can catch fire is if it is filled with lint which somehow comes in contact with the heating element. Very unlikely.
I would have to disagree with the "very unlikely" as during my days as a volunteer firefighter, I went out on a fair number of dryer fire calls, and almost all were due to the lint catching on fire. Most every case, the lint burned off, caused a little smoke and stink, and the fire was out before we got there.
On one memorable dryer call thought, the dryer was smoking and emitting a nasty smell. Since it was in a very nice house, next to the garage door, we just unplugged it, carried it outside and onto the driveway. As smoke was still coming out of it, we took the back off of it, discovered it full of cat food that some mouse had been stockpiling. Once the pile got high enough, it came into contact with a hot surface, and started smoldering.
I thought that was humourosly ironic, the cat had not only failed to get the mouse, the mouse was stealing the cats food. Worthy of a good cartoon.
dago
