Two people in critical condition after child starts fire with cigarette lighter
Two people are in a critical condition in hospital after a house fire in Bentilee. One child also required hospital treatment and three others escaped unhurt.
The incident happened on the morning of Monday 20th December and is thought to have been started by a three year old child playing with a cigarette lighter.
Firefighters took over an hour to put out the fire which started in one of the bedrooms. Luckily the smoke alarms were triggered which enabled the children in the other bedroom to evacuate the building quickly.
Mick Daniels, Newcastle station manager said “This incident highlights the importance of smoke alarms – without them the other children would not have been aware of the fire until it had developed further and could have then ended up trapped.”
The local community are helping the family, who lost most of their possessions in the fire, by collecting clothes, food and even Christmas presents.
Shortage of fire risk assessors in UK
A lack of competent fire risk assessors is causing great concern amongst UK landlords says the Peabody Housing Association.
Landlords are finding it very difficult to find assessors that they can trust to carry out vital safety assessments on their properties.
The claim was made by Robert Groom, Peabody’s fire safety and emergency planning manager, at an event last month in association with the London Fire Brigade. The events main aim was to see how effectively the Regulatory Reform Order of 2005 is being enforced.
1 in 10 online electrical purchases could result in fire
The Electrical Safety Council is advising people to be very careful when purchasing electrical goods over the internet, especially in the run up to Christmas.
Goods bought from outside the European Union are often not designed to be used in Europe and this can be dangerous. Buying from overseas can also mean that you can not guarantee the safety standards of the products. An industry safety body has said that as many as one in ten items bought on line can result in a fire.
Products tested included a sandwich toaster that was marked as a well known brand and even had the CE safety mark but did not actually have a fuse. In lab tests, the product was left on and because there was no fuse – it got hotter and hotter and eventually burst into flames.
Shoppers are urged to buy goods from trusted sources to avoid any accidents.
Derelict building damaged in blaze
Over 50 firefighters tackled a serious blaze at a derelict building in Peterborough.
The fire service was alerted by a local resident after they spotted smoke and flames on the roof of the building formally used by Dairy Crest.
It is not yet known what caused the fire but it has been reported that the building did not have any working fire alarms at the time of the blaze. Building owners are required by law to ensure their premises have adequate fire detection systems.
Florist shop in Belper ravaged by fire
A florist was left devastated after a fire ripped through her store last Saturday morning, with the business now having to be run from home.
Christine Whitworth had kept Dial-a-Flower, located on King Street in the Derbyshire town, going for eight years but the blaze has caused extensive damage to the inside of the building.
It took around 30 firefighters to get the fire under control when they were called to the scene at around 9am, with smoke causing further problems for two nearby properties.
The fire may have been started by an electrical heater.
As she arrived at the store, Mrs Whitworth explained what she saw:
“I didn’t see any flames, just a lot of smoke but there must have been flames because the back of the shop is really badly damaged.
“I am just absolutely devastated. It is such a shock.
“Thank goodness it was not in the middle of the night otherwise it could have caused a lot more damage.
“All the accounts were in the shop but luckily I know most of my customers so, hopefully, I will be able to contact them. I will just have to try and do everything from home.”
Paul Sharp, watch manager at Nottingham Road fire station, said that the fire crews may have been alerted sooner if the premises had been fitted with a smoke alarm.