Death fears over fires at flats

Lorraine Tinney • Published 6 Apr 2010 14:00

TERRIFIED tenants on a Greenock estate fear that someone will die if vandals don't stop torching their tenement.

Residents at Mallard Crescent are worried after a bin room was again set alight in their Mallard Crescent block over the weekend - the third such incident in the space of just a few weeks.

The room was full of bags of rubbish, when it was set torched on Friday night - as previous fires had destroyed the wheelie bins normally used to store refuse.

Mum-of-two Sharon Brockie, 40, claims the building isn't fit to live in and is now pleading with her landlords to make the bin room secure to prevent vandals getting in.

Sharon said: "It's going to take someone to die before something happens."

Her neighbour, Patricia Compston, was also left shaken by Friday's fire.

She said: "I heard a bang - it sounded like a bottle exploding.

"It's getting bad. I keep my mobile beside me when I go to bed."

Patricia fears that if a bad blaze took hold she would struggle to get out safely.

She said: "It was pretty bad the other night and the smoke covered the close.

"There's no lights working on the first and second landing, so as well as the smoke there were no lights to see.

"It's a big risk to go downstairs through that smoke because you can't see where the fire is."

Mum-of-three Rhonda McAulay, 35, says residents are desperate to be rehomed elsewhere following the spate of recent fires.

She said: "My bedrooms were black, even the window sills - everything was black.

"A few of us living here have bad asthma and there are children in the close as well - someone could have ended up with serious smoke inhalation."

"We shouldn't be expected to live like this - we're all at our wits' end."

The fire service have confirmed they attended a rubbish fire at 11pm that night.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 06 Apr 10

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