Fire investigator warns bed sore mattresses can be blaze risk after smoker dies in West Hampstead inferno
Tuesday June 8, 2010
By JOSIE HINTON
A CORONER wants caution over issuing air-supported bed sore mattresses to smokers after a housebound pensioner died when her bed caught fire.
Kathleen Wallace died on March 5 after she accidentally dropped a match onto her bedclothes and started a blaze in the bedroom of her Sidney Boyd Court home in West End Lane in West Hampstead.
The 83-year-old was airlifted to the specialist burns unit of The Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, but died later that day with 85 per cent burns over her body.
An inquest into her death on Monday heard that an 'air mattress' given to Ms Wallace to prevent pressure sores caused the fire to spread rapidly, as jets of air intensified the flames.
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid told the court he would write to national health authorities alerting them of the dangers.
Fire investigator Gary Quinnell, who has dealt with similar deaths in Chiswick in West London and Yorkshire, told the inquest: “I believe these mattresses can enhance a smouldering fire into a flaming fire. Once it gets perforated you get an air jet which enhances the combustion. Lots of people have bed sores that need to be dealt with but I think there are other treatments and remedies. If someone displays careless disposal of smoking materials I think that should be taken into account.”
The inquest heard that the mattresses work by circulating air around the body to prevent bed sores developing. Ms Wallace, who was immobile, had been issued the mattress just two days before her death.
Fire-fighters found “dozens” of cigarette butts and discarded matches in and around her bed, the inquest was told.
Dr Reid said: “If someone is a careless smoker then the risk is even greater when provided with one of these air mattresses. I intend to write a Rule 43 report to alert local authorities and also more nationally about this issue.
“This could have been a case where other fatalities occurred.”
Dr Reid added that he would also write to Camden Council, who owned Ms Wallace's ground floor flat, after it emerged that a smoke alarm was found beneath a pile of clothes on the floor.
It is thought the alarm – fitted to the concrete ceiling with adhesive tapes – had fallen off. Recording a verdict of accidental death, Dr Reid said the installation of smoke detectors should be followed up by landlords.
Neighbours in the West Hampstead estate have planted a tree as a tribute to the former resident.