Families flee from flats blaze

Eric Baxter • Published 19 May 2010 14:00

TERRIFIED parents and children sought safety on window ledges as firefighters battled to put out a night-time blaze in a Greenock block of flats.

All 20 occupants - including a family with a one-year-old girl - had to retreat to their window ledges at 1.20am when vandals set fire to the bin store on the ground floor.

Flames roared right up to the top floor at 125 Mallard Crescent, blocking the entrance, blackening all the doors and filling the flats with acrid smoke.

The residents had to sit on the ledges for an hour until firefighters brought the blaze under control and used an extractor fan to remove smoke and fumes before leading them out the entrance on Monday morning.

Residents have told the Telegraph of their terror, and Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Group Commander, Richie Duncan, warned people could have been killed.

Rhonda and Frank McAulay and their children Paige, 15, Liam, 10 and one-year-old Maya live on the top floor of the five-storey tenement, where there have been five previous bin store fires in the past two months.

They said residents had asked River Clyde Homes to put a secure lock on the bin store. River Clyde says vandals have repeatedly broken locks.

Rhonda, 36, said: "We got a terrible fright. The firemen said we were lucky to get out alive."

Frank, 32, said: "The children were terrified. Everything in the house is ruined by smoke, including a brand new carpet."

Sharon Brockie, 40, who lives with her son Stephen, 19 and daughter Paige, nine, had to be taken to hospital after she suffered an epileptic fit during the fire.

She said: "I don't feel safe living in this building any more."

Joseph Cummings, 38, said: "I've lost everything and I don't have house insurance. I don't know what I'm going to do."

A River Clyde spokesman said: "Our records show there have been five requests to our maintenance team to replace the locks or secure the doors of the bin store since February.

"All were dealt with promptly and on the last occasion a repairs inspector attended and confirmed the doors as being secure.

"These repeated acts of vandalism are being carried out by determined people, set on making the lives of tenants a misery. We have been in discussions with our partners at the police and the council about how to deter these criminal activities."

He added: "We are still assessing the extent of the damage. We will keep the tenants informed."

The residents have been living with relatives or in temporary accommodation, but it is not clear what the long-term arrangements will be.

Fire chief Richie Duncan said the Mallard Crescent blaze was very similar to recent incidents in Dubbs Road, Port Glasgow.

He said: "It seems to be an endemic thing in Inverclyde. For whatever reason, people feel the urge to set fires. The residents at Mallard Crescent had no way of escape. Lives were at risk.

"The individuals starting these fires don't realise the serious consequences of their actions."

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 19 May 10

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