Blunder fires on the rise as we misuse electrical appliances

Many people will be guilty of committing one or even more of the blunder fires found to be most common by the Electrical Safety Council and Chief Fire Officers Association.

Fires caused by electrical appliances is on the rise, killing one person in their home every week and seriously injuring 3,500 more.

Britain’s biggest fire blunders are:

Creating a fire hazard by using the microwave as an additional surface and blocking air vents – committed by 33 per cent of us.

Increasing the risk of serious fire spreading by leaving the tumble dryer running unattended or overnight – 9 per cent are guilty of this.

Blocking air vents by failing to clean behind their fridge/freezer – committed by 44 per cent

Overloading adaptor sockets, causing an unsafe rise in temperature – 16 per cent cause this blunder.

Leaving an electrical appliance on while unattended, only to be alerted by a burning smell – 9 per cent are doing this.

There has been an overall decline in house fires, including those started by chip pans and cigarettes.

But fires caused by misusing appliances has increased by more than a third since 2009.

Director General of the Electrical Safety Council, Phil Buckle said: “People think that they are behaving safely but the majority of people we surveyed had put themselves at risk by unknowingly making a safety blunder. Fires caused by misuse of appliances – the vast majority of which are electrical – are so easy to prevent but they will keep increasing unless people understand the simple things that can and do cause fires.”