Pensioners ‘served tea as fatal fire spread through Hinchley Wood retirement home’ Gibson Court – Your Local Guardian
“I fell asleep while I was watching the programme and I hadn’t turned it off. I came to and it was on fire. The room was covered in smoke. The curtains were on fire, everything around me was on fire.”Mrs Blair was able to get out of her flat while still in her pyjamas but told coroner Richard Travers she could not remember whether she closed the door to her flat but said the smoke had come out in to the corridor.
She also told the inquest the fire doors had not automatically closed when the fire alarm went off because she could see Marion Debeer, house manager, at the other end of the corridor.
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Worker tells Irene Cockerton inquest of “disastrous” fire safety measures at Gibson Court, Hinchley Wood – Your Local Guardian
Mr Ralston also told the court he looked at other areas within the building and said some fire doors were “not sitting properly” with some door stops missing.When fire alarms were tested, Mr Ralston claimed some fire doors were not released, meaning they did not close.
Mr Ralston said: “Some didn’t even have the catches on them. They were using door stops to hold them open.”
The court was also told the glass in the communal lounge door was just “standard” and that type of glass should not have been used in the door.
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Former Sault woman ‘puts people ahead of herself’ – Sault Star
Bain said the fire itself was suppressed fairly quickly, but smoke and hot gases rushed through the hallway and up a flight of stairs, in part because the fleeing tenant left her door open and also because doors elsewhere in the building were propped open.
“People wedge doors in hallways,” he said. “They are there for a reason, as fire doors, but in this case the heat and smoke from the apartment of origin was able to migrate through the hall and upstairs.”
It is rarely the flames from a fire that are deadly, he noted. “It’s the products of combustion and inhaling the hot gases. That is what kills people.”
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Flats in Northam fire reached 800°C – Southern Daily Echo
Andy Earl, of the fire investigation team, said the blaze, which reached temperatures of 800°C, spread into the stairwell because the door of the flat where it started was left open.
He said: “The flat has been 100 per cent damaged by fire but the flat next door, although very close, has little damage. That is because when these buildings are built they are engineered for fire separation. The fire remains in the flat and doesn’t spread.
The city council runs a ‘Stay Put’ policy in most of its flat blocks because fire doors will protect the interior for at least an hour.
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Fire service highlights importance of fire doors – Chester Chronicle
“I can’t believe how effective the fire door was at containing the heat, the garage is completely destroyed but there was no damage to the summer house, it will just need redecorating.
“I hope our case shows people just how effective fire doors are.”
Keith Brooks, head of prevention and protection at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “This case is a perfect example of how important fire doors are when a fire breaks out both in the home and the workplace. They play a critical element in saving lives and property and should never be propped open. We would advise people to also get into the habit of closing all doors as a matter of course to prevent fire spreading and at the first sign of fire get out and call 999.”
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Open Door Helped Fuel Fire That Destroyed Bruson Building: Source – DNA Info NY
An open door and a trove of combustible materials helped fuel the massive fire that decimated the Bruson Building, sources said.The news came as businesses that used the building on 37th Avenue, near 74th Street — many of who are Bangladeshi immigrants — struggled to pick up the pieces.
The business where the fire originated on April 21 was filled with combustible material and also left the door open, which allowed the blaze, sparked by an overloaded power strip to spread down long hallways, the source said.
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3 injured, several rescued from fire near Citadel Mall – 9 News
Approximately 30 firefighters were on scene within four minutes, Branham said. Some of the residents of the 19-unit complex were able to escape on their own but due to heavy smoke that filled the hallways residents of approximately half-a-dozen apartments had to rescued from their windows by firefighters using ladders. Branham didn’t have exact numbers for how many individuals were rescued or from how many units.
Branham said it is not uncommon for firefighters to perform window rescues. He said people often forget or don’t realize how important it is to close the door from the room or unit where the fire is after escaping. Branham said closing the door, especially a fire door, helps contain the smoke and fire and can help keep it from spreading.
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