Fire and Emergency NZ says free testing weeding out dodgier electric blankets in Whanganui

FENZ staff Seton Brown (left) and Daniel Townsend (right), with electrician Matt McDermott, test an electric blanket.

Even if you had your electric blanket safety tested last year, you should do it again this year.

That's the message from Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) following Thursday's free electric blanket testing at the Whanganui Fire Station.

Spokesman Gavin Pryce said it was the third year the free testing service had been offered in Whanganui and the results proved the value of the initiative.

"We had a huge rush first thing with a queue out to the road," Pryce said.

"At 7.50am there were people sitting in their cars outside and we didn't start until 9am.

"We checked 540 blankets and, of those, there were 35 failures. That's 6 per cent which is way down on last year's 16 per cent failure rate. That's a great reduction and means we are starting to weed out the dodgier blankets in the community."

However, the safety test was only valid for a year so people should get their electric blankets tested every year.

"The more frequently they are tested, the less likelihood of there being a risk," Pryce said.

Electric blankets stacked up, waiting to be tested.

"Laser Electrical came to the party again and we had four electricians helping us. This year we had a third testing table to keep up with demand. We also had a sprinkler trailer set up so people can see how effective sprinklers are and we had safety information for people to take away.

"Overall, numbers were down a fraction on last year but it's still a highly successful day. It's our biggest community engagement event for the year and there was good support from the community and our volunteers from Safer Whanganui."