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Install
alarms, coroner tells council chiefs
A CORONER has called on Camden Council to install smoke alarms
in its homes after a woman died in a blaze which gutted eight
flats.
No sprinklers, smoke or fire alarms were fitted in the Holborn
estate where Irene Linnane was killed after lighting a candle
while watching the funeral of Pope John Paul II last April,
St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard.
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid said on Thursday he was writing to Camden
Council to ask them to reconsider their policy of not fitting
fire alarms in older buildings.
But housing chief Julian Fulbrook says “expense and
logistics” stand in the way of any change in the Town Hall’s
stance – which encourages tenants to request free smoke
alarms from firefighters but makes no commitment to installing
alarms in communal areas.
Council housing campaigner Alan Walters hit back, saying: “In
the 21st century it should be standard practice to have up-to-date
smoke detection.”
Speaking after the inquest, Ms Linnane’s daughter Avril
Wood said: “If it had happened through the night, how many
deaths would there have been? There would have been children
and they wouldn’t have got them out.
“Sprinklers and fire alarms should be essential in tower
blocks.”
Fire alarm campaigner Peter Harvey, of Blashford Block in the
Chalcots Estate, Adelaide Road, welcomed the coroner’s
decision to write to the council, adding: “Every landing
should have a fire alarm. I wouldn’t know if my next door
neighbour’s up in flames, I can’t hear the detector
in their flat.”
Although the blaze ravaged eight flats as it swept through the
Newton Street building, Camden is not bound to apply modern-day
fire safety regulations to the 1979 block. Calling on the Town
Hall to step up to its responsibility, Dr Reid said: “Although
I recognise there are issues in interpreting legislation, it’s
my duty to write a letter to the London Borough of Camden and
ask them to consider the outcome of this for other residents.
This was a near miss.”
But Cllr Fulbrook, who says any recommendations made by the
coroner will go before the Housing Executive, told the New Journal
a report carried out by the district housing officer came up
with no new solutions.
He said: “Tragically nothing more could have been done
within the financial and logistical restraints. We have 34,000
council homes in Camden and it would be an intrusion of privacy
and would cost monumental expense to have it wired to a central
alarm system.”
He ruled out fitting alarms in communal areas, saying: “A
central fire system wouldn’t pick up a fire in an individual
flat.”
He added the dawning of wireless technology in Camden could
bring the possibility of smaller, cheaper wireless detectors,
which the council may adopt. More than 2,000 detectors have
been fitted for free in Camden in the past year under a scheme
residents can apply for them.
Fire on day of Pope’s funeral
The inquest heard how Irene Linnane (pictured) was the first
of 92 people to call the Fire Brigade after she knocked over
a candle in her home on April 8.
One neighbour, Angela Pascale told how, assuming the smoke was
just coming from some burnt toast, she had a shower and a cup
of coffee before alerting anyone.
Fire investigator station officer David Cook said evidence of
candle holders found in the flat suggested Ms Linnane may have
knocked over a naked flame.
In the absence of alarms, frantic lifesaving efforts were made
by knocking on residents’ doors.
Less than an hour before the blaze took control, Deborah Morrell
had called Ms Linnane to arrange to send someone to look at
her radiator.
Ms Morrell said: “She said she had had a bad morning because
the Pope died. She’d lit a candle and knocked it down and
caused a bit of damage. She said the phone wire had melted.
She didn’t sound too distressed, she wasn’t breathless
or coughing.”
Ms Linanne’s body was recovered at about midday. Home Office
pathologist Dr Freddy Patel gave the cause of death as smoke
inhalation. Verdict: Accident. |
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