Danger house was fire disaster waiting to happen

FIRE hazard . . . the house on Park Street

A HOUSE in which a man nearly lost his life when fire broke out in an upstairs flat was a virtual death trap, a court was told.

No fire-safety precautions had been taken at the detached house on Park Street, Oldham, which had been split into two flats.

The potentially disastrous failings were only revealed when the blaze started in October 2011 — and the tenant found himself trapped. A neighbour called the fire service when she spotted the smoke.

The house’s owner, mother-of-two Lynne Stone, was told she could face an immediate prison sentence after pleading guilty to five charges relating to fire safety regulations.

Sentencing her at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court, Judge Timothy Mort said he accepted she hadn’t deliberately flouted the law or put profits first, but added, “I don’t think you gave it any thought whatsoever.”

Stone (43), now of Poole, Dorset, was given a three-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months, ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid community work and order to pay £7,053 costs.

The court heard how the fire — which might have been started by the tenant after he had been drinking - had caused serious damage to the Park Street house, which has been empty since.

Cassie Williams, prosecuting, said the man had apparently fallen downstairs and was trapped behind the front door, which was locked. It was “sheer luck” the emergency services had been contacted so promptly. Crews battered their way in with a door ram and rescued the man, who spent days in hospital recovering.

The flats had no emergency lighting, automatic fire-detection system or fire-fighting equipment. The only exit from the upper flat had been down the stairs to the hallway.

There were no stairway handrails, lengths of wood were stored there and the sole ecape route no built-in fire resistance - in fact parts of the walls were wood-panelled, allowing fire to spread.

Adam Lodge, defending, said the property had been converted by builders some years ago but Stone hadn’t been aware of changes in regulations and had learned her lesson in a serious way.