Indesit tumble dyer fire
A family home in Guildford was gutted by a fire that is thought to have started when a Indesit tumble dryer caught fire Chelsea Garnham

A faulty Indesit tumble dryer has been blamed for sparking a huge fire at a family home in Guildford in Surrey months after Whirlpool – which owns the brand – issued a recall on certain models.

Firefighters battled the blaze on Saturday (6 February) after flames gripped hold of the council house. The Garnham family believes an Indesit tumble dryer was to blame for the fire, which destroyed the home and could take a year to repair.

Daughter Chelsea said the appliance was at fault for starting the inferno. "When I got there I was quite shocked. I started crying when I first saw the house. I didn't know how a tumble dryer could cause so much damage," she told Get Surrey.

The five occupants managed to get out of the home safely and the family has urged other to contact manufacturers over possible faulty equipment. Last year owners of Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda said a "significant" number of their dryers could pose a fire risk, with Indesit saying that fluff could catch fire.

The warning applied to machines bought between April 2004 and October 2015 and could have affected millions of products. An estimated 30 million Whirlpool, Indesit and Hotpoint machines are thought to be in use in UK households.

A Whirlpool UK spokesman said an engineer will visit the property to examine the dryer and that the company would not comment any further.

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