An Apple HomePod saved the day after alerting homeowners to a kitchen fire started by a 'curious' dog'

Apple HomePod 2 in black
(Image credit: Future / Stephen Warwick)

We're accustomed to Apple Watches saving lives, but the idea of a HomePod or HomePod mini saving a life is something that we don't come across all that often. But thankfully, Apple's smart speaker sprung into action when a kitchen fire had the potential to cause catastrophe.

According to reports a fire started in the kitchen of a home after a "curious" dog inadvertently turned on an oven that happened to have cardboard boxes on it. The result, as you can imagine, was a fiery inferno.

However, an Apple HomePod saved the day after sending a push notification to the homeowners to warn them of the fire which gave them time to put it out before the fire brigade arrived.

Staying alert

A Facebook post by the Colorado Springs Fire Department, first spotted by 9to5Mac, detailed the story by saying that the homeowners were "woken up by their Apple HomePod which sent them a 'High Heat' notice."

However, it's most likely that the HomePod heard the home's fire alarm and alerted the homeowners as a result. The HomePod cannot act as a smoke detector itself but can listen out for the sound of existing smoke detectors in your home and send a push notification to your iPhone if an alarm is heard. You can enable HomePod alarm recognition on any HomePod, HomePod 2, or HomePod mini.

As this instance shows, turning on this feature could well save your home and, potentially, your life.

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HomePod 2 | $299 at Best Buy

The HomePod 2 is the larger HomePod, based more on Apple Music than being a voice assistant. Featuring fantastic bass and an array of five horn-loaded tweeters, you'll be able to blast out your favorite Taylor Swift album across your home with ease.

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Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.