Oil-soaked laundry theory behind fire which evacuated hotel
Oil-soaked laundry is believed to have caused a fire which led to a hotel being evacuated.
The fire at Moreton Park Hotel at Gledrid, near Chirk, is one of a number of puzzling blazes which fire safety experts say may have been started in laundry or a tumble dryer.
Paul Fulgoni, an officer with Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service's prevention and protection team, believes that in many cases being investigated the laundry may have been washed and tumble-dried, and then packed away before it had cooled properly.
No-one from Moreton Park Hotel was available to comment.
Six people suffered smoke inhalation following the fire at the hotel on May 17. The hotel was evacuated after the fire broke out on the first floor at 2.45pm, and people were not allowed back into their rooms until 6pm.
Mr Fulgoni said: "It's quite an unusual phenomenon but it is well known to fire services around the country.
"The danger arises when items like tea cloths and towels that may be soaked in vegetable oil are washed but oil residue remains afterwards."
"If these items are then tumbled dried and packed away before they have been allowed to cool, the oil residue can start to generate internal heat just like a compost heap. In some cases it can get hot enough to burst into flames."
He said hotels, guest houses, care homes, schools and restaurants face the greatest risk due to the large quantities of laundry they produce each day but ordinary households are not immune to the danger.
