Lincolnshire: Electrical items cause 300 fires

New figures show that over the past three years the brigade attended 275 electrical fires in the region.

Faulty wiring caused 65 fires, through things such as dodgy DIY, trailing cables, damaged wires and overloaded sockets.

Some 31 fires were caused by tumble dryers. Filters full of fluff and overheating machines due to too many items of clothing in the drum, were two of the main reasons the dryers went up in flames.

Dishwashers and washing machines caused almost 40 fires. As they combine heat, electrics and moisture, there is often a danger a fault can occur. Electric heaters were also a large cause of blazes, often caused by clothes being placed too close to the heat, and not resting the heaters on a stable surface.

Hairdryers, electric blankets, blowtorches, irons and TVs were amongst the other causes.

Nicky Shipston, community fire safety advocate, said: “These figures show that just because there’s no flame on something – there is still a fire danger.”

“We know that people are busy and time is precious, but we’re asking people to take a couple of minutes to check that the plugs and cables on their electrical items aren’t damaged, to clean the fluff from their tumble dryer, and make sure their plug sockets aren’t overloaded.”

“And, before going to bed take time to turn off their electrical items unless they are designed to be left on – like fridges and freezers,” she added.