A young man is fighting for life in hospital with burns to 75% of his body after a robot vacuum cleaner exploded inside his kitchen and set his Perth home on fire.
Lachie Perrem, 25, was rushed to the burns unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital after the freak accident in Brabham on Thursday, and remains sedated after undergoing multiple operations.
The explosion, which investigators told 7News was likely caused by a fault in the robotic vacuum, blew out windows and started a fire which spread to the living room, leaving Lachie, his fiancée and their housemates without a home.
Lachie’s family have not been able to speak to him since the accident due to the severity of his injuries, and have started a GoFundMe to help during his recovery, as he is likely to remain hospitalised for at least two more months.
His fiancée Bri Thompson, who has been by his bedside in hospital since the explosion, said the last few days had been “completely unimaginable”.
“Our entire life has changed in a matter of moments and everything has been incredibly intense and overwhelming,” she wrote on social media.
“Lachie has an incredibly long road ahead of him, and right now all we want is for him to keep fighting, heal and eventually come home.”
Lachie’s mother Fiona is travelling to Perth from Queensland on Tuesday to be with her son, and said in the online fundraiser that the accident had turned the family “upside down”.
“While our focus is on helping him survive and heal, life outside the hospital doesn’t stop. Bills continue to arrive, and he still has financial commitments, including the repayments on his car,” she wrote.
“We want to ease as much of that burden as possible so that, when he wakes and begins his recovery, he can focus entirely on getting better instead of worrying about losing everything he has worked so hard for.”
Firefighters said robotic vacuum cleaner explosions were rare, but had caused three fires in Western Australia over the past two years.
The product believed to be responsible is now being examined by the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety.
Header image: Left, Lachie Perrem and Bri Thompson. Right, Lachie’s injuries (GoFundMe).
