The National Fire Protection Association reports that the biggest cause of domestic dryer and washer fires is a failure to clean them. Lint accumulation in your dryer vent might start a fire. Each year, dryer fires cause around 15,600 structural fires, 400 injuries, and 15 deaths. According to the United States Fire Administration, clothes dryers cause over $100 million in damages each year. Few people are aware of the serious consequences of failing to clean their dryer vents on a regular basis. Many of them rely solely on a lint trap and filter to capture lint. Unfortunately, these safety precautions do not catch all of the lint. A dryer fire often starts when highly flammable lint becomes tangled in the dryer vent and becomes heated to the point of igniting.