AN investigation into the blaze which destroyed a Dundee launderette has revealed the likely cause — and it was fuelled by bad luck.
Grossi’s, on Gray Street in Broughty Ferry, was gutted in February by a fire and investigators have ruled that the self-ignition of towels in the dead of night was the trigger.
Self-ignition can occur due to oxidation if clothes are not allowed to cool down in a launderette and then stored tightly.
Oxidation creates its own heat, so tightly packed towels can continue to heat until they ignite.
Paul Grossi, joint owner, said: “It was a harrowing experience and it’s not been easy to deal with.
“It’s taken longer than we hoped.
“Insurance and the fire service have agreed that a bag of towels had self-ignited — about seven hours after we closed.
“We already had a very stringent safety code in place and we had checked the bag, so it’s just one of those things.
“The machines were state-of-the-art — it was very unlucky as there was no one there to put it out.”
Tens of thousands of pounds of damage was caused when the shop went up in flames.
But just over a week later, they were back in business having secured temporary premises across the road.
Paul hopes work to restore the shop can now begin.
He said: “We’re hoping for a mid-May opening.
“We’ve been waiting to go as soon as the investigation was finished and the green light was given.
“We’re looking forward to a shiny new shop and it’s now time to draw a line under this.
“It’s a relief to be able to move on.”
Steve James, chairman of the Broughty Ferry Trader’s Association, said: “I’m delighted to hear they will soon be able to re-open and get back to normal.
“It would have been a big loss to the street and the town if they had been forced to close down.”
A spokeswoman for the SFRS said: “Incidents of fire at business premises can have a detrimental impact on the local economy.
“We therefore seek to work with business owners where appropriate to reduce the risk of fires from occurring.”