Kitchen fireball (From Penarth Times)

Kitchen fireball

EXPLODING freezers, washing machines and microwaves have been the cause of a bizarre series of fires in Penarth in recent weeks.

A family of four in Plymouth Road had to escape from their home at 5am last Thursday morning after an electrical fire in their kitchen caused by a freezer.

Ian Nickels said: "I was woken by the sound of the freezer"s compressor exploding. I went downstairs and into the kitchen.

"The freezer was just a fireball.

"The kitchen and a storeroom were both gutted by the blaze. The freezer has now been sent away for forensic examination by our insurers.

"My two children Barclay, aged 12, and Alexandra, who is 10, and my wife and I were all asleep when it started.

"We all escaped safely but it was a terrifying ordeal ."

And Doreen Cox of Laburnum Way had to call in the fire brigade after her microwave caught fire.

She said: "I was cooking a pie in the microwave when the telephone rang. I went to turn the microwave off, but instead turned it to the maximum cooking time.

"The next thing I knew there was thick smoke coming out of the kitchen, because the microwave had caught fire."

Pensioner Mrs Cox was taken into Llandough Hospital as a precautionary measure, but was released after a full check-up.

Firefighters also had to extinguish an electrical fire at Britten Road recently. after a washing machine exploded and caught fire.

And some weeks ago a fire that started overnight in the electrical cupboard in the basement caused damage to a house in Marine Parade, where the occcupants had to be evacuated.

A spokesperson for South Wales Fire Service said: "Electricity is often overlooked as a fire hazard, perhaps because there is no flame.

"Many householders do not realise that failing to regularly check their electrical items - cables, switches, sockets and other equipment - and making the necessary replacements or repairs, could lead to a fire at home.