Don't Play
Replay Replay Video Icon
Player help icon
Video settings
Video will begin in 5 seconds.
Return to video
Please Log into update your video settings
More video
Recommended Replay video
Return to video
Video settings
Please Log into update your video settings
Washing machine catches fire
Patricia Borg's Samsung washing machine went up in flames on March 18, 2016. What she says happened next with her machine has been disputed by the electronics giant.
PT1M50S 620 349Patricia Borg was making lunch in her home in western Sydney when her granddaughter, Miracle, tugged at her pants to alert her to smoke. She opened the laundry door to see flames leaping from her washing machine.
A few hours later, as Ms Borg and her family were reeling from the loss of their Colyton home, she claims two men in an unmarked, white van turned up and drove off with the Samsung top loader. She presumed they were from the fire department.
Patricia Borg was alerted to the fire in the laundry of her Colyton home by her granddaughter Miracle. Photo: Louie Douvis
"The two men took photographs and asked for something they could wrap it in," said Ms Borg, 41, who now lives in Oxley Park. "I gave them a sheet, they covered the machine and loaded it into the van.
Advertisement
"They didn't identify themselves. They didn't have my permission to take it. It was like it was stolen, like it was a big hush-hush thing."
Two different stories have emerged about what happened in the aftermath of the Colyton fire on Friday, March 18.
Fire investigators examining Patricia Borg's washing machine at Samsung's headquarters. Photo: Supplied
Not only that, three separate fire investigators later failed to pinpoint what sparked the fire.
They all ruled out the washing machine - a model not under recall - as the cause, but did not establish what triggered the event.
Nevertheless, alarm bells were raised. Samsung had already initiated the recall of six top-loader models with a major waterproofing fault in April 2013, which would become one of Australia's largest and most costly recalls.
The label on a unit that caught fire on November 30, 2015, in Moorebank. Model no. SW70SPWIP is one of six under recall. Photo: Fire and Rescue NSW
So far, 74 per cent of the 144,451 affected machines have been remedied. Of those, more than half have been repaired with the problematic "plastic bag and tape" fix, while the rest have been either replaced or refunded.
After the Colyton fire, the NSW Minister responsible for Fair Trading, Victor Dominello, was planning to announce the recall of a seventh Samsung washing machine model.
He cancelled those plans when the three inconclusive reports were delivered, all ruling out the machine as the cause.
The laundry of Ms Borg's home after the fire on March 18, 2016. Photo: Supplied
But Fairfax Media can reveal questions have been raised about the findings of two of the reports and why Samsung, based on Ms Borg's account, felt the need to remove the machine.
The multibillion-dollar company disputes Ms Borg's version of events. Samsung says it only became aware of the incident three days after the fire, on Monday, March 21, when Fair Trading made contact.
Further, it claims a meeting with Ms Borg was arranged at the property that Monday at 2.30pm. At that meeting, according to Samsung, she gave her permission for the company to take the machine away. But Ms Borg says that meeting never took place.
"While on site, Ms [Borg] also provided approval for the washing machine to be removed from the property by Samsung's technicians for further analysis. Given the late time of day, the unit was then stored overnight at the technicians' secure warehouse and delivered directly to Samsung's headquarters the following day," a spokesman said.
But Fairfax Media has spoken with an employee at J&B Realty who said she inspected the property about midday that Monday. That would be before the time Samsung says it removed the machine. The employee said she expected to see the machine, but it was missing.
"I was doing my routine check of the property, knowing it was uninhabitable," said the employee who asked not to be named. "That's when I noticed the washing machine wasn't there."
Samsung acknowledges the fire-damaged machine was stored at its Homebush headquarters for several days. It says its electrical engineer examined the washing machine on Sunday, March 27, and Monday, March 28.
Eleven days after the Colyton fire, and the day after Samsung dismantled the machine, experts from Fire and Rescue NSW and Fair Trading arrived at Samsung's offices to also examine the machine.
Samsung's investigation concluded the machine was not the cause of the fire. But it would not share its report with Fairfax Media.
Both FRNSW and Fair Trading's investigations could not determine the cause of the fire. They both provided copies of their reports which ruled out the machine as the origin.
Peter Hart, a forensic electrical engineer with 20 years of experience, scrutinised the two reports for Fairfax Media and said the machine could not be ruled out as the cause of the fire.
"Not all electrical faults result in molten metal and yet fire investigators often base their fire opinions about whether melting of wire occurred or not ... The evidence of electrical tracking at connections can be destroyed by the fire and so the wrong conclusions can be drawn," he said.
Judging from the reports, Dr Hart said the only evident source of energy for this fire was the live electrical system inside the machine.
After also looking at the Fair Trading-commissioned investigation, Dr Hart said: "I think that the assessment of the investigators indicates the difficulty that they had interpreting the fire damage to the electrical wiring components."
Superintendent Jeremy Fewtrell from FRNSW, said the fact Samsung had pulled apart the machine the day before its examination, did not impair its investigator's ability to make a proper assessment of the machine.
"Based on the burn patterns observed and with the absence of electrical arcing within the machine's wiring, it was determined that the fire had not started in the machine," he said.
"The investigator's inspection of the laundry did not identify any alternate ignition sources hence the report not making any solid conclusions about how the fire started."
A Fair Trading spokesperson said it became aware of the Colyton fire on Monday, March 21, and notified Samsung. She added Ms Borg agreed for the machine to be collected on the day.
"Fair Trading was concerned to ensure there was thorough and expert examination of the machine and commissioned an independent expert electrical engineer with expertise in forensic examination of electrical equipment," she said.
"That forensic examination and report concluded that 'the Samsung washing machine did not cause the fire'. It has no concerns with the process involved in the Samsung or FRNSW investigations or the respective reports."
Samsung urges consumers who may be affected by the recall to visit samsung.com/au/washingmachinerecallor call 1800 239 655.
The following models are impacted:
SW75V9WIP/XSA
SW65V9WIP/XSA
SW70SPWIP/XSA
SW80SPWIP/XSA
WA85GWGIP/XSA
WA85GWWIP/XSA
Do you know more? ehan@fairfaxmedia.com.au