Check your fridge-freezer

IT IS reported by the London Fire Service and the Consumers Association’s “Which?” journal that many fridge-freezers are a fire risk.

This is because they have a backing which is made of plastic, which can catch fire if there’s an electrical fault. This does not adequately protect the flammable insulation material inside the fridge.

The London Fire Service is calling for the backing to be made of a fireresistant material such as metal. Fridge-freezer fires spread so fast that much of a house and its contents can be destroyed within a few minutes. Naturally, there is opposition to these improvements from some manufacturers.

The London Fire service say that since 2010 seven people have died and 70 people have been seriously injured from fridge fires. It is thought that the Grenfell Tower block fire may have been started by a fridge fire in one of the flats.

The London Fire Brigade say they are dealing with a fridge-freezer fire every week. This is costly to the country in terms of NHS treatment, emergency services, insurance premiums etc. Strangely, successive governments don’t seem willing to upset manufacturers by requiring more effective safety legislation, despite the deaths, injuries and damage that these fires are causing.

If people are concerned, then when they need to buy a new fridgefreezer they could think about requesting one which has a safer backing material.

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