Fire fear over plug-in freshners

Published on 14th June 2007 in News

A Goole resident this week raised concerns over the potential danger of 'plug-in' room fresheners after receiving an e-mail that claims the devices had been blamed for causing house fires.

Earlier this week the resident, who does not wish to be named, brought a copy of a forwarded e-mail that was allegedly sent out by an employee at insurance company NFU Mutual, into the Goole Times office.

The e-mail claims that a couple recently suffered a horrific house fire and were left 'sick' when an insurance investigator informed them that the fire was caused by a plug-in room freshener.

The e-mail states: "The investigator said he has seen more house fires started with the plug-in type room fresheners than anything else. He said the plastic they are made from was thin.

"He also said that in every case, there was almost nothing left to prove that the room-freshener had even existed. When the investigator looked in the wall plug, the two prongs left from the plug-in were still in there."

Concern over units in homes for the elderly

The resident told the Goole Times this week: "This is very worrying. Lots of fires may have been caused without people knowing how they started.

"A friend of mine lives in a residential complex and said that there are plug-ins all along the corridors there."

But Glenn Ramsden, spokesperson for Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, told the Goole Times that he was not aware of any similar cases in the local area.