The disaster that befell the Grenfell Tower in London was a shocking tragedy that most of us will probably, perhaps thankfully, never be able to comprehend but reports have emerged that the starting point of the fire was a Hotpoint fridge freezer.
The fire that ultimately claimed the lives of seventy nine people and caused the destruction of one hundred fifty one homes is largely being attributed to the cladding used on the exterior of the building.
However it has been stated that the fire began with a problem on a Hotpoint FF175BP model. This model is not problematic in our experience nor has it been the subject of any recalls and there are said to be up to 64,000 of these machines in the field that were made from March 2006 to July 2009.
It is important to note that we do not know how or why the fridge freezer went on fire, that remains a mystery at this time.
If you are concenred about the level of riskl that might be posed, please see our article on that here.
Hotpoint who’s current owner is Whirlpool have preemptively issued a product safety notice on the machine as well as issuing the following statement:
“Words cannot express our sorrow at this terrible tragedy. We offer our most profound condolences to the victims, those who have lost loved-ones, homes, and possessions, and to their friends and families.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all those involved, including the emergency services who risked their lives to extinguish the blaze and rescue those in the building.”
Obviously with the ongoing investigations around this matter information is limited but we will update as we can and events unfold.
Please, if you have a fridge freezer that looks like this one, check it:
The full details of the safety notice can be foud here:
https://www.hotpointservice.co.uk/fridgefreezer
The number to call is:
0800 316 3826
Opening hours:
Monday – Friday: 8.00am – 6.30pm.
Sat: 8.30am – 5.30pm.
Sunday: 9.30am – 3.30pm.
