This appliance garage fire, in a Whangarei home on January 1, was extinguished just in time. Photo / NZ Fire Service
This appliance garage fire, in a Whangarei home on January 1, was extinguished just in time. Photo / NZ Fire Service
A popular feature in modern kitchens has caused two house fires in Northland in the past month, one of which destroyed a home at Mangawhai.
Fire investigator Gary Beer said blazes caused by kitchen appliance garages were ''surprisingly common'' and the results could be devastating.
On December 12 a two-storeyhome on Lake Rd in Te Arai, near Mangawhai, was razed after a fire started in appliance garage. On January 1 a Whangarei man had a close call when his appliance garage also started a fire. It was extinguished before the flames spread beyond a corner of the kitchen but his Garden Court home was badly smoke damaged.
Appliance garages are designed to store toasters, jugs and other appliances. They are usually fitted with electric sockets, so appliances can be left plugged in, and closed with a small roller door to keep the kitchen looking tidy.
However, if the appliances are not pushed back far enough the door can be pulled down onto the toaster handle. The toaster is jammed in the 'on' position and unable to pop up. Heat builds up rapidly inside the cupboard, causing ignition.
The Whangarei man was fortunate in that he was alerted by a smoke alarm, but he still had to move out of his home while the damage was repaired.
The Mangawhai family, however, went out after breakfast so no one was home to raise the alarm. By the time the fire was noticed it was too late to save their home.
This Mangawhai home was destroyed by a fire which started in a kitchen appliance garage. Photo / NZ Fire Service
Mr Beer said he had been to five such house fires around Northland in the past five years.
National fire investigation manager Peter Wilding said heat built up quickly in the confined space of an appliance cupboard and a fire could start within minutes. He had raised the issue with kitchen design organisations two years ago, and one manufacturer now included a microswitch so power was shut off to the cabinet as soon as the door was closed.
''However, a lot of homes have these types of appliance garages, and the recent fires are a reminder that they pose a very real risk of fire. Our advice is to turn all appliances off at the wall when they are not being used, but ideally it would be better to have an electrician install a microswitch.''
Placing toasters and electric jugs side-on inside the cabinet, so levers or switches could not be caught by the door, would help but was a less reliable way of preventing fires.
