House fire killed pensioner - inquest hears (From This Is Cheshire)

House fire killed pensioner - inquest hears

11:51am Monday 6th July 2009

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A DISCARDED cigarette smouldered in a closed bedroom until the door was opened causing a massive back draft blaze which killed a pensioner, a court heard.

The fire, on December 1 last year, killed 71-year-old Margaret Prytherch after she was knocked off her feet by the blaze, an inquest heard on Wednesday.

Mrs Prytherch died of carbon monoxide poisoning following the fierce fire at her home at Shaw’s Avenue, Orford.

The inquest heard how Mrs Prytherch, a widowed retired cleaner who lived alone, had probably smoked a cigarette in her bedroom before going downstairs in the early hours of December 1 to feed her dog, Lady.

The temperature was -5C that night, and she had probably put on her gas fire, coroner Nicholas Rheinberg said, before returning upstairs.

“Because the cigarette butts were smouldering in an enclosed room the fire was just waiting for an influx of oxygen,” fire investigator Barry Williams said.

“I believe she entered the room letting oxygen in and caused a back draft.

“The explosive force is enough to knock somebody off their feet,” he said, adding that the resulting fire would be between 600C and 700C.

The window panes in the bedroom had melted and warped in the heat, and the fire was so fierce that it melted a firefighter’s helmet.

The sound of a dog barking at the fire woke neighbours William and Elsie Arnold who called 999 at 5.33am.

Firefighter Jonathan Hill Warrington blue watch was one of those who entered the house to search for Mrs Prytherch, and found her lying on her back on the landing with her feet in the bedroom, the inquest heard.

Following the blaze fire investigators found a number of cigarette butts in Mrs Prytherch’s bedroom, and decided that they were the seat of fire.

An electric blanket that was found in the room was also tested to see if it had malfunctioned, but was ruled out as a possible cause of the blaze.

Mr Rheinberg ruled that Mrs Prytherch had died of carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of an accident.

It was likely that a poorly discarded cigarette had started the fire, he said.

“When the door to the bedroom shut the insipient fire would be starved of oxygen until the door to the bedroom was opened which would allow an immediate influx of oxygen and would lead to the back draft that Officer Williams described.”

Following the inquest Mrs Prytherch’s family, including her brother James Quinn, thanked the emergency services for their efforts.

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