Littlehampton bedroom fire started by hair straighteners

HAIR straighteners set fire to a duvet after being left on a bed by a girl at a house in Littlehampton.

The girl put the straighteners down on her bedding while she went into another room and was shocked when she returned just a few minutes later to see the fire had started in the bedroom of the house, at Toddington Lane, on Thursday afternoon (February 24, 2011).

Her quick-thinking grandfather put out the flames with a bucket of water, but the blaze has prompted a warning from West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service about the need to take extra care when using hair straighteners.

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Crew Commander at Littlehampton fire station, Alan Blair, said afterwards: “Thankfully, they have had a really lucky escape here. We are relieved that nobody has been hurt, because there was potential for this to have been a very serious incident.

“Hair straighteners have become increasingly popular over the last few years, particularly with teenagers, but they do carry a fire risk because they reach extremely high temperatures of around 220 degrees. They can also take a long time to cool down and if they are placed on a flammable surface like bedding, then a fire can develop very quickly.

“Our advice would be to place straighteners on a hard heat resistant surface, even after you have unplugged them and don’t leave them unattended while they are switched on.”

Fire crews from Littlehampton were called out at about 3.10pm, but the flames were out when they arrived.