Cameron House: Men tried to smash window to escape fireon August 16, 2022 at 1:31 pm

Two men who died in the Cameron House fire tried to smash a window to escape the flames, an inquiry has heard.

Simon Midgley, 32, and his partner, Richard Dyson, 38, from London were guests at the Loch Lomond hotel during the blaze on 18 December 2017.

A fatal accident inquiry is being held at Paisley Sheriff Court.

Gary Love, a fire investigator, said he found evidence the couple had tried to use a picture frame to break a window open.

The 57-year-old was describing the area of the hotel where the men’s bodies were found.

He said: “I noted that a large picture frame was on its side directly below the window of the second floor landing.”

He added that the “frame had been prised from the adjacent wall, most likely with the intention to be used to smash the window”.

The now retired investigator for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, told Crown Counsel Graeme Jessop that the men had been trying to break through a laminated double-glazed window.

He said it could not be opened, and they had managed to break through one pane.

Night porter Christopher O’Malley discovered the flames in the concierge cupboard – where he had left a bag of ash next to kindling and newspapers.

Mr Love told the inquiry his investigation found evidence of a galvanised bucket, kindling, and a shovel in the cupboard.

He said more than 75% of the main building of the 128-room hotel had been “severely damaged” in the incident, and the fire had caused the majority of the roof to collapse.

Mr Love said his conclusion was the fire was accidental, and was most probably the cause of a careless act.

“Ashes have a low thermal conductivity, consequently, it’s not rare for individuals to believe ashes are dead while in reality hot or smouldering embers are still contained within,” he added.

The inquiry also heard from Darren Robinson, the night manager at the time of the fire.

Mr Robinson told the inquiry he did not know the plastic bag of ash had been put in the cupboard until he saw CCTV footage – which was shown to the inquiry on Tuesday.

He said leaving the ash was “not something he would have done” as it was a fire risk.

When the source of the fire was found, he put down his fire marshal pack and list of guests, and picked up a fire extinguisher.

But he told the court that at this point he felt there “was no point”, adding “it was too big and it was more important to get people out.”

A member of the public can also be seen in the footage trying to fight the fire with an extinguisher.Seconds later, Mr Robinson dialled 999 from his mobile phone, a call which was played to the inquiry on Monday.

He had activated the hotel’s full alarm after smoke was detected on a fire control panel at reception.

Mark Stewart QC, acting for O’Malley – who later admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act – told the court his client was a “conscientious” and “diligent employee”.

He said to Mr Robinson: “When that alarm went off you asked Mr O’Malley to go and investigate. That’s what we saw happening on the video as he rushed out in the reception area slightly ahead of you.

When smoke was detected, staff had three minutes to work out the cause, and the inquiry was told O’Malley’s actions were “instrumental” in making the decision for Mr Robinson to trigger the full alarm.

The inquiry also heard that O’Malley had told Mr Robinson the ash bins were full and that the night manager had emailed other staff at the hotel requesting that the bins be emptied.

On Monday the inquiry heard hotel guests had to be physically stopped from going back into the burning building to save a young family.

Cameron House was ordered to pay £500,000 after admitting to breaches of fire safety rules and O’Malley was given a community payback order.

The Crown Office initially said an FAI was not needed because the circumstances of the fatalities had been established – but a review overturned the decision after Mrs Midgley, from Pudsey in Leeds, called for wider lessons to be learned.

A coroner in England ruled that the couple were unlawfully killed and raised concerns that he had not been allowed access to documents and CCTV footage by Scottish authorities.

The FAI is expected to last about three weeks.