Custom Fridge Install

Joe Tarquinio from Arlington Fire District (NY) sent in these photos of a hazard discovered at a fire in the New Hamburg Fire District, Poughkeepsie, NY. This home owner decided they could get a few additional square feet of kitchen space by recessing the refrigerator into the wall. Well it may have seemed like a good idea to them, check out the results of the set-up after a small fire in the basement. Any smoke generated from a basement fire is going to come straight up the stairway opening and obscure the view of this hazard. Any heat from the basement fire will chimney right out of the stairway opening and deteriorate the structural integrity of the new installation. Not only could the refrigerator fall on any crews making their way down the stairs, but if you were fortunate enough to not be directly under it at the time, the fridge would undoubtedly cut off the attack lines, and means of egress.

The first photo shows the view looking down the staircase into the basement.

The photo above shows the installation complete with the well protected electrical wire. You can tell from the melted light in the stairwell, that there was some (but not a lot) of heat present in the stairwell.

The photo above shows the kitchen with the "flush" refrigerator. Just on the right hand side of the photo, you can see the entrance to the basement access stairs.

The final photo above shows the damage noticed after the fire, you can tell that the support members (2x6's) possibly started to give way and the weight of the fridge was making the floor sag. It's hard to tell from the photo, but it could also just be that the plywood covering the 2x6 pulled away from the nails. Either way, you get the idea, a little more heat, and this thing could have easily failed. The owner should get bonus points for the custom "watch your head" sign. Too bad there was no sign to warn crews of this situation.