Care worker tells of frantic efforts to save fire victims

A care assistant has described how firefighters desperately pulled bodies out of a fire that had ripped through a care home killing 14 pensioners.

At the Fatal Accident Inquiry into the tragic events at the Rosepark home in Uddingston in January 2004, care assistant Irene Richmond described how firefighters, ambulance workers and police joined nursing staff in an attempt to evacuate the elderly residents, many of whom were disabled.

With tears running down her cheeks, Mrs Richmond said: “One of the firefighters brought in a resident who might have been dead or alive. Another firemen was doing CPR.”

She continued: “I was ­totally devastated. These were not random people in a hotel room. These were people I would have grown to love.”

The inquiry also heard that when the fire alarm first sounded, nurse-in-charge Isobel Queen had immediately turned it off.

“We wanted to turn the noise off while we investigated,” Mrs Richmond said.

The fire alarm panel indicated that smoke had been detected on the top floor, but Mrs Richmond described how staff had instead searched downstairs in the room of a resident who was known to keep cigarettes and a lighter among his possessions.

“When we were downstairs, the alarm went off again,” she said.

A full eight minutes after staff had been first alerted, thick black smoke was found billowing from the lift shaft. Nurse Brian Norton and care assistant Yvonne Carlyle rushed downstairs to evacuate residents, while Miss Queen and Mrs Richmond remained upstairs.

“Isobel phoned the fire brigade and then we got out who we could,” Mrs Richmond explained.

“But the smoke was so bad when we opened the fire door we couldn’t get anybody else … we had no idea where our work colleagues were … but we had to close the door.”

The inquiry also heard that firemen had been forced to use bolt-cutters and an axe to break through a gate that was preventing access to the fire exits at the back of the home.

Paul Wade, representing Strathclyde Fire Services, asked: “Is it true you couldn’t approach those fire exits without coming across a locked gate?”

“Yes,” said Mrs Richmond.

Questions were asked about potential causes of the fire. Mrs Richmond said she had discovered a burnt-out incense stick in the room of one of the residents and Mr Norton admitted smoking 11 or 12 cigarettes that evening.

It was further revealed that laundry cupboards on the top floor had contained flammable aerosol cans.

Queries were also raised after Mrs Richmond said there were at least six “wanderers” at Rosepark, mostly suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia, who often paced the home at night.

The inquiry also heard from Mrs Richmond that it was likely that the majority of doors were left open on the top floor of the home on the night of the tragedy.

She said that some of the residents were “paranoid” about their door being shut and she had never been given any instruction to keep them closed.

Mrs Richmond and Mr Norton both claimed they had never been shown how to operate the fire alarm.

Mr Norton said he had never taken part in a fire drill at Rosepark or been told what to do if the alarm went off.

“I had been trained elsewhere and I took it for granted there would be plans in place and the nurse-in-charge would take over as they did in NHS wards,” he said.

There have been three failed attempts to prosecute the owners of the home, Thomas and Anne Balmer and their son Alan, over alleged safety breaches at Rosepark. All charges were dismissed on each occasion. In May 2009, Lord Matthews ruled that it would be impossible under current laws to bring prosecutions against the three.

Also represented at the inquiry in Motherwell are Strathclyde Fire Brigade, Lanarkshire Health Board, The Care Commission and a number of other staff who worked at the home at the time of the blaze.

The inquiry before sheriff-principal Brian Lockhart is expected to last between four and six months.