SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20201023-2B25F-2025520. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Frigidaire FFTR1821TDO or Q Model Type is AD-18 (A Frigidaire refrigerator. Description on the receipt is FFTR1821TD. It was 65 1/8 "H, 29 5/8"W, &29 7/8" deep.). Incident: I opened my refrigerator and there was an awful smell. I saw what looked like soot on the orange juice and milk containers. I opened the freezer and there was a very strong burnt odor and the items in the there were covered with soot...2 packages of frozen vegetables, fish, 2 trays of ice cubes, and a bowl of cubes. I immediately unplugged the frig. I called a friend who used to own 2 appliance parts stores and asked if he knew any repairmen in my area. He gave me the name/number of someone he knew and worked with. The repairman came out the next day pulled the back off panel off the freezer and said he had only seen anything this bad once in the 30 years he's been in business. He stated that the fan motor burned up and "fried" everything. The entire freezer was burnt up. He said there was nothing he could do...I needed a new refrigerator. I bought the appliance at Home Depot in Shorewood, IL. 7/11/2018, just over 2 years ago. I went on LiveChat w/ Frigidaire. I sent them photos of the fire. They said they would investigate and get back to me. They haven't yet. When I send an email I get a response from Electolux saying a rep will contact me within 24 hours...but they don't. I don't care if it wasn't under warranty it was dangerous and something that should never have had happened. In addition to paying almost $700 for a new refrigerator I had to replace over $100 worth of food and eat out of an ice cooler for 3 days. Thank You. [REDACTED]