Residents Saved In Care Home Blaze

Lessons learned from the Rosepark Nursing Home tragedy were crucial in saving the lives of care-home residents trapped in a fire, it emerged last night.

{mosimage}Eighty-nine residents of the Douglas View Care Centre in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, were evacuated yesterday when a blaze broke out in the upper floors just before 7am.

Although police and staff managed to help some residents to safety, firefighters were forced to enter the smoke-filled building to complete the rescue.

Nine residents and a female staff member were taken to nearby hospitals suffering from the effects of smoke, but none suffered serious injuries.

Senior fire officers told The Scotsman that “lessons learned” from the Rosepark fire – in which 14 people died – were vital in the operation.

Chief Officer Brian Sweeney, of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, said that the fire had been of greater intensity and generated more smoke than the Rosepark blaze in Uddingston in January 2004.

He said, however, that the fact that the building was a modern purpose-built care home had helped to save lives.

“The alarm system allowed us to identify where the fire was worst and where the largest amounts of smoke had developed, which gave us vital information,” he said.

He added that the fact that such an effective system was in place was down in part to fire services now having responsibility for inspecting care homes, and it showed that “lessons had been learned” from the Rosepark incident.

He said this had allowed a speedy and well-orchestrated rescue.

The cause of the fire has not been identified, but it is thought to have started in a bedroom.

The home, run by Southern Cross Healthcare, caters for elderly people and younger physically disabled people who need help with daily living.

It can house up to 100 patients on short and long-term stay.

John Murphy, the chief operating officer for Southern Cross Healthcare, said residents had been moved to seven care homes in the surrounding area.

Gary Hardacre, of the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: “A lot of the residents were in their bedclothes and still in their rooms when they were rescued.

“Fortunately, we were able to get most residents back into a place of safety very, very early on,” he added.