Man burnt out of flat after tumble dryer fire
A man from Yeovil has described the moment his home was destroyed by a fire started by his tumble drier.>It comes after hundreds of reports of fires thought to have been caused by Whirlpool dryers across the country. In November the manufacturer revealed there was a fault affecting more than a hundred of its Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda models.
19-year-old Joshua Cappell has nothing left at his flat in Yeovil. He escaped with just the clothes he was wearing and with what few possessions he could grab as he ran out of the door. >The fire was started by his tumble drier - a Hotpoint - one of those on the safety risk list.
An engineer had been booked to come and look at it, but on the day he was due to call - it burst into flames.
Joshua called the fire service and did his best to alert other people in his block of flats. >Thankfully, nobody was hurt. He's now relying on friends and family for somewhere to stay.
As with all the other tumble dryer owners, he had been advised he could continue to use his machine as long as it wasn't left unattended and was properly cleaned and maintained.
Whirlpool, which owns the Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda brands says it is sending engineers out to everyone who owns one of these driers and is recruiting more staff to try to reduce the waiting times.
Work has begun to repair Joshua's flat but it'll be months before he can move back in. He says, he'll be thinking very carefully about what appliances to buy in the future.
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