A 999 call suggested that the occupants were trapped, but by the time the emergency services arrived all of them had got out safely, including a young child who was carried out in a blanket. The fire started in an electrical socket in a stairwell and all of the occupants had to pass close to it as they escaped and some suffered breathing difficulties from taking in acrid smoke. They had been alerted to the fire by a smoke alarm, but the Fire Service say that the alarm was on the third floor and a lot of smoke had already accumulated before it went off. Fire Service watch manager Richard Liron said: ‘The smoke had to negotiate three levels and nearly fill the whole stairwell before it activated the alarm. Had there been a smoke alarm on every landing, very little smoke would have been produced before an alarm would have sounded, allowing time for a far safer escape to be made.’
The Heart of Island Life
