It wasn't lightning: Bermondsey flat fire started by faulty fridge

Charred: The fire at a Bermondsey flat was caused by a faulty fridge
12 April 2012

Fire investigators from London Fire Brigade said that a fire in the capital last week, which was thought to have been caused by a lightning strike, was in fact caused by a faulty appliance.

Up to 500,000 fridge freezers could be posing serious fire risks in homes and businesses across the country, it was warned today.

In a statement, the brigade said that the blaze served as an urgent warning of the serious risks posed by up to 500,000 faulty fridge freezers in homes and businesses across the country.

There are believed to have been 20 fires in the capital alone involving Beko fridge freezers since 2008. These fires have seen 15 people injured and one person die.

Steve Turek, assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, said: "Any fire can be lethal but the London Fire Brigade is particularly concerned about this because fires involving any sort of fridge freezer develop rapidly and produce an enormous amount of toxic smoke.

"Expert fire investigators have had to work for a long time to confidently establish these faulty fridge freezers as the cause of a number of serious fires. Having established this link, we have worked closely with Beko to ensure the public is kept safe.

"However, the brigade urges everyone who has a Beko fridge freezer to check it is not one of those highlighted by the company as potentially faulty. I would also urge everyone to make sure they have a working smoke alarm in their house."

Over the last three years the brigade's fire investigation team has been working to establish the link between a faulty defroster timer switch on the appliances and a number of house fires.

The problem occurs when water gets into the defrost timer switch in the fridge freezer, which can lead to an electrical malfunction resulting in plastic components and other highly flammable insulation inside the appliance catching on fire.

The brigade formally alerted Beko to the problem in June 2010 and the manufacturer has now begun trying to locate the products so that the fault can be corrected. However, the brigade believes more needs to be done to alert people to the potential danger, the statement said.

A Beko spokesman said: "Since becoming aware of the issue, Beko has been working closely with the London Fire Brigade and Trading Standards to identify the issue and the best method of reaching all affected consumers and arranging a modification.

"We have contacted all retailers who sold these products to seek their help in identifying affected customers from their sales records. This has allowed us to mail these customers to make them aware of the issue and to urge them to contact our freephone number to arrange the modification.

"We are working with British Gas and a major electronics retailer to contact owners of these products and carry out a free of charge modification to replace the defrost timer. We have adopted a phased approach which allows us to make maximum use of their resource.

This allows us to quickly identify which products are affected and have the modification carried out.

"As a result of this ongoing activity we have mailed over 100,000 owners and have successfully located and modified 11,000 units."

Fire chiefs are urging people to check if they own particular models manufactured between January 2000 and October 2006. A full list can be found at www.tradingstandards.gov.uk

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in