Inquiry follows fatal fire delay

A crew from Chirk arrived before the team from Llangollen

An inquiry is underway after a fire crew was delayed by up to 14 minutes in reaching a blaze which killed a man.

John Morris, 79, died in the house fire in Llangollen, Denbighshire, caused by a suspected faulty electric blanket.

A North Wales Fire Service crew a few streets away was delayed because of a "lack of a suitably qualified manager" to oversee command of the operation.

A team from Chirk arrived there first. Deputy Chief Fire Officer Colin Hanks said a "full" inquiry was launched.

He said: "Regrettably, a delay was encountered in the appliance from Llangollen attending the incident on Dee Lane, Llangollen in the early hours of Monday morning."

He added: "We can confirm that the reason that Llangollen were delayed was the lack of a suitably qualified manager or a firefighter who had received incident command training.

"This is a policy within the service, and is in place to protect the health and safety of our staff at incidents, and ensure that they have suitably trained managers."

Mr Hanks said the delay was not caused by recruiting or training issues, and six of the 18 firefighters based at Llangollen were qualified to command incidents.

He added: "A full internal inquiry is now underway to discover the reason for the delay and review the service's response to this incident."

A fire investigation is also under way, in conjunction with the coroner.

Manager

Firefighters were called to Dee Lane, Llangollen at 0009 GMT on Monday.

The crew at Llangollen was less than a mile away (1.6km), but did not arrive at the scene until 0029 GMT.

It would normally expect to arrive within six minutes.

A crew from Chirk - about seven miles (11km) away - arrived at 0025 GMT.

Joint investigation

The victim was treated at the scene by ambulance crews but was later pronounced dead. A joint investigation with North Wales Police has begun.

It is thought the victim's blanket was faulty. The fire service said people should check their blankets annually.

Richard Fairhead, senior fire safety manager with North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: "It is very important that people with electric blankets store them correctly when they are not in use.

"Folding the electric blankets can cause damage to the wires within the blanket.

"They should be stored flat or rolled up. Before the blankets are used after seasonal storage, they should be checked to ensure they operate correctly."

He said checks should be performed by qualified electricians and blankets more than five years old should not be used.