Fire alarm temporarily halts wedding service
A fire alarm was set off due to a steaming kettle at a church wedding service in Westhoughton over the weekend.
Nicola Towers and Mark Fishwick, the couple getting married, had to wait as the fire crew checked that there was no fire and the wedding vows could be exchanged at the service in St Bartholomew’s Church.
The wedding ceremony was only put on hold for a few minutes as the fire alarm rang out and the fire service attended to the call out, with guests moving to the vestry but once it was all over the four firefighters from Hindley formed a guard of honour for the couple by raising their fire axes.
Hindley fire station crew manager Mike O’Neill said:
“Apparently, a steaming kettle in the bell tower caused the fire alarm to go off. There were a number of people up there waiting to ring the bells.
“Myself and colleagues Chris Marshall, Steve Francis and Mike Egan, provided the guard of honour and we were delighted to do so.”
This incident just goes to show that although it was a false alarm, it is always necessary to have a fully working fire alarm installed in any premises like a church that deals with the public.
Norwich Landlord jailed after horrific fire
A woman has suffered 80% burns covering most of her body after a fire broke out in her bedsit on 14th April 2009. Ms Skalli was not able to escape from the fire because her windows would only open 4 inches and the only other exit was blocked by thick smoke. Tenants from neighbouring bedsits were rescued by fire fighters or had to climb down drainpipes to escape the burning building.
Doctors thought it was unlikely that Ms Skalli would survive, and John Claxton from the HSE said “This is the most distressing case I have worked on during my 31 years as an HSE inspector”.
Mr Billings, landlord of a number of adjoining bedsits had failed to provide working fire alarms or sufficient escape routes. He had also neglected to have the gas appliances in the properties serviced and inspected.
After a joint prosecution by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service and the Health and Safety Executive, the Norwich landlord pleaded guilty to a string of serious health and safety, fire safety and gas safety offences.
Mr Billings was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court and will now serve two and a half years in prison.
£125,000 fine for safety blunder hotel
A hotel in Wilmslow has been fined more than £125,000 after a routine visit by fire officers discovered a catalogue of serious fire safety breaches.
The Belfry was closed immediately over fears for the safety of staff and guests. It was found that the hotel had faulty fire alarms, substandard fire exits and staff had not been trained sufficiently to deal with fires.
The hotel claims that after buying the hotel in 2007 they had inherited a ‘legacy’ of problems but told the court that the safety issues were “not a question of corner-cutting”.
Within days of the April 2008 inspection the hotel had installed all of the fire safety equipment needed and was permitted to reopen. There have been no further incidents.
The hotel was fined £25,000 for each of the offences, and £52,000 in costs. Judge Elgin said “With a certain cavalier disregard, it appears the company carried on trading and taking guests when quite clearly these guests were put at substantial risk.”
Hotel owners charged over breaches of fire safety
It has been reported that Cornwall Council has decided to begin prosecution proceedings against the owners of a hotel in Newquay following a fire which left three people dead.
The Penhallow Hotel was badly damaged in a fire back in the summer of 2007 and the incident resulted in the deaths of Staffordshire guests Peter Hughes, Monica Hughes and Joan Harper.
Following a comprehensive investigation into the blaze by the council and fire service, the hotel owners have been charged with a breach of fire safety regulations.
It took over 100 firefighters to tackle the blaze at the 54-bedroom hotel back in August 2007, where around 90 people were evacuated.
The suspicious fire, which was never proved to have been started deliberately, was thought to have begun in a hotel bar drink store where it then spread through the hotel premises.
The hotel had to be demolished due to the extent of the fire damage sustained by the structure.
Once the probe into the fire had been concluded, charges were brought against the owners and three of their employees for alleged breaches of the Regulatory Reform Order (Fire Safety) 2005.
They are all due to appear at Bodmin Magistrates’ Court on the 21st of October.
Fulham landlord fined for breach of fire safety regulations
A landlord of a Fulham property was hit by a series of fines after failing to maintain conditions for his tenants it was revealed today.
Two months ago Rizwan Ahmed had to pay back £37,000 in rent, and now he has had to pay another £20,000 for a breach of regulations and not having the necessary House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) license needed to rent out property with five tenants or more.
In addition to these findings by the Residential Property Tribunal (RPT), where Hammersmith & Fulham Council were able to reclaim a year’s worth of housing benefits, Mr Ahmed was found to have failed in his duty to maintain fire doors and fire alarms within the property.
The RPT said that had there been a fire in the building, the blaze could have spread through the property quite rapidly.
If you are a landlord, hotel owner or run your own business, t is not worth risking a breach of regulations by failing to maintain the fire safety procedures in a building. Always make sure that fire safety equipment like fire alarms are installed and in full working order. You may also be required to send a number of your employees on a suitable fire warden training course.