Singapore—There have been seven fridge-related fires at Riversails Condominium in the past three years, causing much alarm to its residents.
Four of the incidents occurred just in the last two months — the latest in a sixth-floor unit where a fridge caught fire at around 6.40 pm on Tuesday (April 13).
TODAY quotes Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) as saying that residents were able to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher and a hose reel even before they arrived.
Residents have been losing sleep due to the fear that their unit may be next to experience a fridge-related fire, TODAY added.
According to a report in AsiaOne, 25 people living at Riversails Condominium left of their own accord after the Apr 13 fire, self-evacuating prior to the SCDF’s arrival.
Fortunately, nobody was injured in the incident.
Electrolux, the manufacturer of the refrigerators in the condominium, has said that there is no defect or fire hazard in the fridges that caught fire.
The root cause of the fires is still under investigation and not yet known.
Nevertheless, in exchange for their fridges, the appliance company has offered to give residents one-time goodwill payments of S$600 or S$1,200, depending on how many refrigerators are in their units.
Nearly three-quarters of unit owners have opted for the cash payment and the refrigerators will be removed from their units within the coming week.
Those who accept Electrolux’s payment need to agree that they will not pursue further claims, demands, or proceedings against the appliance company.
“Since time is of the essence in this particular situation, Electrolux, without any legal obligation to do so, is willing without admission of liability to make an offer to Riversails’ owners to make a one-time goodwill payment in exchange for the fridge that is still in their possession,” reads one part of the statement.
The company told TODAY that it has installed the same refrigerator model (ENN2754AOW) in four other condominiums, but only Riversails Condominium has experienced fridge fires.
TODAY says that within the 920 units at Riversails Condominium, 1,400 refrigerators are installed.
It also included a photo that urged residents to “comply with the advisory note from Enterprise Singapore BY SWITCHING OFF THE FRIDGE IMMEDIATELY.”
Enterprise Singapore issued an advisory on March 30 telling residents “to stop using the Electrolux refrigerator model number ENN2754AOW with immediate effect, due to the potential of a fire risk.”
An Enterprise Singapore spokesman told Today it is investigating the matter.
Enterprise Singapore oversees quality standards of equipment as the national standards body, administering the Singapore Standardisation Programme. /TISG
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