Samsung washing machine fire at Rutherford

On Friday morning Gai Smith started a load of washing and went out to visit family in Maitland. But shortly after leaving the house she received a frantic phone call from her adult children.

“My daughter told me the fire alarms were going off all through the house,” she said.

“And when they walked out into the back [laundry] they could smell smoke.”

Ms Smith raced home but, unable to locate the source of the smoke, contacted the fire brigade. 

Station officer Chris Holderberg said his crew scanned the home with thermal imaging cameras and found the source – Ms Smith’s Samsung washing machine. The SW80SP top-loader washing machine is one of six Samsung models which have been on a recall list since 2013. The known electrical fault has caused fires to break out.

“There are still thousands of [the machines] out there,” Mr Holderberg said. “Most people, like Gai, just wouldn’t know.”

This month Fairfax Media reported that more than 300 incidents, including serious fires, were linked to the machines. Mr Holderberg urged Maitland residents to make sure their washing machine was safe and to check smoke alarms. 

“We’re just lucky this time,” he said. “This could have been bad.”

Ms Smith said she has put hundreds of loads of washing through the machine since getting it just over a year ago.  And while the Department of Fair Trading and Samsung have worked to alert owners, Ms Smith said she had never received a notification. 

“It was scary, really scary to think we just averted a housefire,” she said.

Ms Smith said she couldn’t fault the response by Samsung, with the manufacturer offering to replace the unit with a brand new machine before Christmas.