Grenfell Tower inquiry: Hotpoint fridge-freezer may not have started fire, says expert

'Cause of fire remains undetermined,' claims Dundee professor

A fire safety expert has said she cannot be sure a Hotpoint fridge-freezer was the initial cause of the Grenfell Tower fire.

The appliance in the kitchen of flat 16 of the high-rise block had been widely blamed for the blaze.

An official report by a forensic scientist at the University of Dundee that was published on the opening day of evidence hearings in Grenfell Tower inquiry, confirmed the fire started in flat 16.

But it also said the exact cause of the fire was unknown.

“On the basis of the available evidence, it is more likely than not that the area of origin of the fire was in, or around, the tall fridge freezer in the southeast part of the kitchen,” Professor Niamh Nic Daid wrote.

“The cause of the fire remains undetermined although, based on the available information, it is more likely than not be be an accidental cause rather than a deliberate act.

“The originating fire within flat 16 extended out of the kitchen window of the flat and at some point re-entered through the window of the bedroom next to the living room of flat 16 causing further damage to the flat.”

She added that “further electrical examination undertaken by a forensic electrical engineer” was required to examine unknown materials found in the space between the fridge-freezer and the window before cause could be established.

Another expert report also published on Monday said the initial “stay put” advice quickly became inappropriate as the flames began to spread across the outside of Grenfell Tower barely half an hour after the fire started.

It would have been better for residents to flee via the stairs rather than remaining in their homes, according to the report.