Fridge causes fire at Upper Serangoon Crescent condo
About 25 people were evacuated after a fire broke out in a unit at the Riversails condominium at Upper Serangoon Crescent on Tuesday evening (Apr 13).
A Stomper alerted Stomp to the incident and shared a video of smoke rising from the affected unit. In response to a Stomp query, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to a fire at 4 Upper Serangoon Crescent at 6.40pm.
"The fire, which involved a fridge in the kitchen of a unit on the sixth floor, was extinguished by members of the public using a hosereel and a fire extinguisher prior to SCDF's arrival," an SCDF spokesman said.
related: Latest fire tag
25 residents self-evacuate from Upper Serangoon condo in recent string of fridge-related fires
Another month, another fire
25 residents from a condominium in Upper Serangoon self-evacuated after a fire broke out in a unit on the sixth floor on Tuesday (April 13) evening. The cause of the fire? A fridge.
The fire was extinguished by members of the public using a hose reel as well as a fire extinguisher before the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived at the scene. No one was injured and the cause of the fire is under investigation, said a SCDF spokesperson.
Apparently, this isn't the first time such an incident has happened in Riversails condominium. A fire broke out in another unit there on March 27. Since 2018, there have been at least six fires involving Electrolux fridges that the units were furnished with, Shin Min Daily News reported.
Fridge Catches Fire At Upper Serangoon Condo, Appliance Company Offers Compensation For Refrigerator
Fridge Catches Fire At Upper Serangoon Condo On 13 Apr in String Of Similar Incidents
Having a fire breaking out at one’s home is amongst our worst nightmares.Unfortunately for a household at an Upper Serangoon condo unit, their refrigerator in the kitchen caught fire. Luckily, no one was injured.
Apparently, this comes amid a string of similar incidents with fridges catching fire. As a result, the appliance company – Electrolux – allegedly offered compensations ranging from $600 to $1200.
Fridge catches fire at Upper Serangoon condo on Tuesday (13 Apr), a fire broke out at RiverSails condominium along Upper Serangoon Crescent.
RiverSails 13 April at 02:51
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Riversails condo residents alarmed at series of fridge fires; maker Electrolux denies fault but offers goodwill payments
Riversails Condominium, located along Upper Serangoon Crescent in Hougang, was launched in 2016. Since then, seven fridge fires have been reported at the estate.
In the wee hours of one morning last month, Riversails Condominium resident Victor Cheng was jolted awake by rapid knocks on his front door by a security guard asking him to evacuate from his apartment due to a refrigerator fire in his block. The incident, on March 14, was the fifth such fridge fire to take place in the Hougang condominium complex since 2018.
And this time, the affected unit was just one floor below from where Mr Cheng, a 71-year-old business owner, lived with his wife and daughter. “It was quite scary,” he recounted, adding that the walkway was filled with smoke when he made his way to the evacuation area.
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Consumers urged to stop using Electrolux built-in refrigerator after fire incidents at Riversails Condominium
Consumers have been urged to stop using one model of an Electrolux built-in refrigerator after a series of fridge fires at Riversails Condominium, located at Upper Serangoon Crescent.
Preliminary findings by trade agency Enterprise Singapore, which oversees quality standards of equipment, revealed that four fires at the condominium were caused by the failure of the motor capacitator, a device that holds charges of electricity in refrigerators.
The fires broke out in March and April, said Enterprise Singapore in a media release on Friday (Apr 23).
4 fires that took place at same condominium in Hougang linked to Electrolux fridges
Some 1,377 units of the Electrolux refrigerators were installed in Riversails Condominium, where the fires occurred. PHOTOS: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS READER
Four separate fires in March and April at a condominium development in Hougang have been linked to the built-in refrigerators in the homes of residents there.
Some 1,377 units of these Electrolux refrigerators were installed in Riversails Condominium, where the fires occurred.
The fridges will be removed from the other residents' homes as a precautionary measure, said Enterprise Singapore (ESG), which oversees the safety of household products.
Residents urged to stop using refrigerator fire accidents in Sengkang apartment
Three incidents occurred in an apartment in Sengkang in the past month, involving a fire hazard in the refrigerator equipped in the apartment, causing concern. The apartment management committee urged residents to stop using the refrigerator provided by the developer. The Singapore Enterprise Development Board also advised residents in the apartment to remove the old refrigerator as soon as possible to reduce the possible fire risk.
About 900 residents living in this apartment in Sengkang have received letters from the refrigerator supplier Electrolux, the apartment management committee, and the Enterprise Development Bureau since last Sunday, urging them to suspend the use of the developer as soon as possible. This refrigerator was installed in the home a year ago. Because at least six fire incidents involving this refrigerator have occurred in the apartment since 2018.
Apartment resident Shi Yunong said: “We didn’t know it at all. We didn’t know that the matter was so serious until we received the letter on the 30th. We roughly did a calculation and rebuilt the closet and repurchased the refrigerator. It was about 4,000 yuan.” Refrigerator supplier Electrolux said that the refrigerator involved in fire disaster is not on the market, and there are four other local real estate projects that are equipped with the same refrigerator but have never heard of fire disaster.
Shin Min Daily News 14 April at 00:15
The refrigerator is on fire again
After a series of fires involving refrigerators of the same model occurred in the apartment, the management committee persuaded to stop using the refrigerator, and the Singapore Enterprise Development Board also intervened in the investigation, but fire broke out again last night.
The Riversails apartment located in the upper section of Serangoon Bend has had at least six fire incidents involving Electrolux brand built-in refrigerators (model ENN2754AOW) in the past three years. At 6:40 last night, another refrigerator caught fire in one of the units of the apartment, and no one was injured. (Report: Li Si) (Photo: provided by the interviewee)
Fire risk fridges: Standards are deficient, says Which?
Householders are being warned that current safety standards for fridges and fridge-freezers may be "deficient", creating a potential fire risk. Consumer group Which? says new, tighter standards due by 2019 should be brought in much faster. The body responsible for those standards said it was working hard to introduce them as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, Which? says, the current tests used are insufficient and do not replicate a real house fire. In more stringent testing it carried out itself, Which? found that fridges with plastic backs were highly flammable.
Two samples were subjected to an open flame and caught fire after 10 seconds. Under this particular test, the samples should be able to withstand a flame for at least 30 seconds.
Here's What Really Causes Fridge Explosions
While refrigerator explosions are rare, they're still incredibly dangerous. As Realtor.com reports, Florida resident Mark Ligondie recently had his fridge explode. He heard a loud sound in his fridge and when he rushed into his kitchen, he saw that his family's four-month-old refrigerator was shattered and smoldering. The explosion was so powerful that it broke a window in Ligondie's master bedroom and created cracks in the surrounding ceilings and walls. Luckily, Ligondie and his family were unharmed.
As Neil Everitt, a former editor at the air-conditioning and refrigeration magazine ACR News, told Realtor.com the reason why fridge explosions are so dangerous is because they often happen spontaneously, while a fire caused by a stove or toaster would create smoke and set off the fire alarm, alerting homeowners to a problem. The reason fridge explosions happen is usually due to the fridge's compressor. The compressor, located at the back of most fridges, contains a motor and pump which push a gas refrigerant through the compressor's coils. When that gas cools down and turns into a liquid, it soaks up heat in the fridge and cools the items inside. But sometimes, the back of a fridge can get hot as the refrigerant moves through the compressor, causing the coils to contract, which traps the gas. This makes the gas unable to properly vent and it can burst through the compressor's coils, creating an explosion.
To prevent a fridge explosion in your own home, clean your fridge's coils to make sure that they're not clogged. You should also invest in a newer refrigerator, as modern fridges usually have a heat shield to prevent this from happening, but some models, especially older ones, contain plastic that is highly flammable, and they may also lack other modern safety features.
Five common appliances that cause house fires
Our homes today are filled with electronics and appliances that make our lives easier and provide us with entertainment. DVD players, big screen TVs, video game systems, and cable/satellite TV boxes overload our electrical outlets and fill up our entertainment centers.
If you bought a new appliance lately, you'll see that technology has changed them, as well. Our new washer and dryer consists of a few buttons and touch screens. While the touch screens look cool, there's more circuitry in them, which could lead to a fire. According to the National Fire Protection Agency(NFPA), 501,500 structure fires were reported in the U.S. in 2015. These fires resulted in 2,685 deaths, 13,000 injuries, and $10.3 billion in property damage; $7 billion in property losses were caused by home fires. Based on these statistics, a fire was reported every 63 seconds.
Here's a list of common appliances and how they can be start fires in your home:
- Dishwashers
- Dryers
- Microwaves
- Refrigerators
- Toasters
What causes Air-Conditioner fires?
A Woodlands HDB flat resident came face to face with a raging fire after hearing a series of explosions coming from one of their bedrooms.
The fire, which occurred at Block 842 Woodlands Street 82 on Monday (Sep 23), saw two people declining to be taken to a hospital.
Lianhe Wanbao reported that the fire involved an air-conditioner unit in the bedroom.
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