Exploding Oven: Part 2

It sounds like a ghost story: the oven door opens by itself, a fireball shoots out, then the oven door closes.

For Dr. Eina Fishman, it was the reality of the late April evening on which she nearly lost her life.

"I could have died," said Fishman, of Delmar. "All of a sudden, there was a major explosion and the door to my (oven) burst open. A huge wad of flames came out and set my hair on fire, burned the left side of my face, my neck and my arms."

Fishman suffered first and second-degree burns.

The next shock came when her repairman arrived: he found nothing wrong with her Whirlpool oven. There was no explanation for the fireball that engulfed Fishman in flames.

By contrast, another repairman was able to diagnose the cause of the fireball that prompted CBS 6's first report last month. Mark Sokol, of Northwind Appliance in Schenectady, said a broken calrod unit generated the "cyclone of blue fire" that burst forth from Mary Short's General Electric oven, nearly burning her 12 year-old daughter and a family friend.

As promised, the CBS 6 Fact Finders contacted the top five oven manufacturers -- General Electric, Whirpool, Amana, Frigidaire, and Maytag - to check the frequency of failure. All five said the risk of fireball or explosion is slim to non-existent, and therefore a warning will not be added to the owner's manual.

The New York State Consumer Protection Board also said there does not appear to be a pattern of failure, but advises consumers to always check the list of product recalls at www.consumer.state.ny.us.