House fire averted after woman 'smells burning'

Linda Mercury believes she was close to having her home go up in flames because she was using an extension lead.

Her television suddenly went out when she was watching a programme about 10.30pm. It began hissing as she turned it off.

The plug for the television was one of four in a extension lead which she had on the floor of her living room.

She pulled out all the plugs when she detected a burning-type smell coming from the TV. She rang the fire and rescue service because she was unsure who to contact as she feared the worse. A fire crew was quickly at her property in Swandene and gave it the all clear. They returned the following night to provide her with a fire safety assessment and advice.

Retired Mrs Mercury (54) said their comments had changed the way she viewed electrical appliances for ever. She was at risk of overloading the capacity of the sockets by just adding more and more plugs. She wanted to alert others to take precautions before it was too late.

'It could have been terrible that night and I could have been burnt to death if I had just gone to bed,' she explained.

'Because there are four or six holes in these gang extension leads, I thought I could use them all. I thought each one let you plug in what you wanted to. I had no idea the amps of each individual appliance had to be added up and you can only use a total of 13 amps.

'The firefighters did point out that this information '“ and the maximum number of amps which can be used on each extension '“ is on the back of the extensions but who reads the back of products? I'm sure most other people don't.

'I feel it is more important to have this information on the TV than telling us to eat five fruit and veg a day. I also did not realise that plugging too many items into wall adaptors can cause it to pull away from the wall and could arc the electricity and cause a fire.'

She said the situation was more urgent than before. Households contained more electrical equipment now.

Most domestic properties had computers, TVs and DVD players as well as lights to put an increasing strain on their electrical sockets.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Gary Towson said: 'Electrical faults are one of the biggest causes of domestic fires.

'We would urge people to take care not to overload their sockets.

'Worn out and frayed cable leads are another source of danger and should be replaced.

'Anyone in any doubt about the safety of their home should contact us for a free safety check.'