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Joe McPadden |
SMOKE ALARM TRAGEDY OF BLAZE VICTIM
Investigation after death of carpenter who ‘could have been saved’
FIRE investigators say a pensioner who died in a fire could have been saved if smoke alarms had been fitted inside his home, an inquest heard yesterday (Thursday).
Irish carpenter Joseph McPadden, 60, died at his Arran Walk flat in Canonbury after a discarded cigarette set his armchair on fire.
Mr McPadden, who had just returned from a short stay at the Whittington Hospital and was a virtual skeleton at the time of his death, died in June after inhaling more than 50 per cent smoke, St Pancras Coroner’s Court was told.
Homes for Islington, the independent company which runs the borough’s council homes, said it was reviewing fire safety due to the case and had made hundreds of referrals for new smoke detectors.
Mr McPadden’s trouser leg caught fire before he attempted to escape, but he collapsed by his front door before making it outside after he was overcome by fumes.
It emerged at St Pancras Coroner’s Court that the frail pensioner, whose flat had been converted to fit his wheelchair, had been given a smoke alarm but he had been unable to install it himself.
A HfI spokesman said yesterday: “In light of this tragic accident, we’re reviewing our procedures so instead of providing new tenants with smoke alarms, we’re looking to fit them before tenants move in.”
He added: “We’ve made over 1,800 referrals to the Fire Brigade to install smoke detectors in homes. HFI have made 480 home fire safety visits, all of which have included the provision of smoke detectors.”
The court heard how, tragically, warning signs were missed after a fire which took place in Mr McPadden’s home just weeks before death.
Despite the Fire Brigade being informed of an earlier blaze – which was put out by Mr McPadden with cups of tea and orange juice – they were unable to contact him because the wrong telephone number had been left on their website.
Speaking outside court, his partner of 14 years, Rosie Vincent, 61, said: “There should have been a fire alarm in there.”
Describing him as “the love of my life, my soulmate, my friend and my life,” she said she was angry there were no fire alarms in the block.
Mr McPadden’s brother Tom, 66, who had travelled from Ireland to be at the inquest, said: “People were apparently issued with these fire alarms and asked to fit them themselves. Surely a man in a wheelchair and a zimmer frame isn’t in a position to go and fix it in the roof.”
HfI said it did not have a legal obligation to fit smoke alarms to all of its flats.
Fire investigator Neil Richard Morling told the court it was likely Mr McPadden had fallen asleep in his armchair when the blaze began at some time before midnight.
He said: “The area of damage was around the armchair, which was almost completely consumed with very little spread to any other items. It was started by a discarded or dropped cigarette on to this armchair.”
Mr Morling said had there been an alarm fitted, neighbours may have been alerted earlier. Instead, they didn’t call the Fire Brigade for another seven hours.
“It was a slow-burning fire,” he said. “If you had an alarm that sounded, maybe it would have been raised earlier.”
The court heard there was a “silhouette” of smoke marking the spot where Mr McPadden’s lifeless body was found in the hallway, indicating he had collapsed before smoke engulfed the room.
One of four children, Mr McPadden’s partner and family paid tribute to his quiet sense of humour and “gentle” nature. As a carpenter he and his brother had built the Hare and Hound bar in Stoke Newington, while he later went on to run the Sutton Arms pub in Caledonian Road.
Islington’s adult social services chief Councillor Ursula Woolley said “it would only be right” if Hfi and Islington “look at what they can do so it couldn’t happen again”.
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid recorded a verdict of accidental death. |
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