The electric blanket was considered the most likely cause of the bedroom fire. FENZ could not determine the make or model of the blanket involved, due to its condition following the fire.

The fire started at the bottom of the bed indicating an element short-circuit fault (modern electric blankets have a protective guard wire system designed to prevent possible fires from occurring when an insulation fault occurs in the heating element).

WorkSafe Energy Safety recommends that electric blankets are replaced every 3-5 years and strongly suspect that the blanket involved in this fire was significantly older than this. This age factor combined with the way electric blankets tend to be used and stored over time is the most likely contributory cause of fires in electric blankets.