Surfers Paradise fire station officer Mark Gribble said a flatscreen television left in stand-by mode was the cause of a house fire at Mermaid Waters last week. When fire crews arrived, the house was heavily smoke-logged to waist height and flames were coming out of the window.
The house was smoke damaged leaving the owner with a clean up bill likely to run into thousands.
Last year, thousands of German-made Loewe television sets were recalled in Australia because of the potential fire risk.
At the time, the company said "faults could arise at certain soldered points which could lead to overheating of the set and, in the worst case, to a danger of fire".
Television electrician Mike Cook of Atlas Electronics said flatscreen televisions generally were safe
