Fire warning dryer blamed for blaze that killed two men
A TUMBLE dryer caught fire before a blaze gutted a flat killing two men.
The sole survivor of the tragedy told an inquest he saw flames coming out of the drum of the Hotpoint machine which has been linked to a major safety alert.
The American firm Whirlpool, which owns Hotpoint, has been criticised for failing to advise owners to stop using dryers identified as potential fire hazard.
Doug McTavish, a 39-year-old restaurant manager, and Bernard Hender, a 19-yearold chef, died in the blaze in the Snowdonia village of Llanrwst in 2014.
A fire officer told the inquest the ‘greater likelihood’ was that the fire started ‘in or around the tumble dryer’, but he was unable to identify the exact cause.
Various dryers made by Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda between 2004 and 2015 are sub- ject to a safety notice about a fire risk caused by excess fluff coming into contact with the heating element.
Fire chiefs warned last October that owners must stop using them. One had been the cause of a huge blaze in an 18-storey block in Shepherd’s Bush, London.
Whirlpool stuck to urging customers to register for a free modification, saying the machines were safe to use providing they were not left unattended.
An enforcement order was then issued by trading standards, which advises owners to unplug the machine and stop using it until it has been fixed.
Whirlpool was represented by a barrister at yesterday’s inquest in Abergele, which was told the fire started in a flat above a funeral parlour on October 9.
Funeral director Garry Lloyd Jones, 50, said the blaze woke him at around 6am – five hours after the dryer was turned off: ‘I just remember walking down the corridor to see what was going on and seeing flames coming out of the tumble dryer.’
He tried to rescue the two men but both were unable to escape the flames.
Assistant coroner David Lewis said: ‘No organisation or individual is on trial.’
The hearing continues.