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.
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