Inquiry rules fire safety plans were defective at Rosepark care home
A fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of 14 people in a fire at the Rosepark care home in January 2004 has concluded that fire safety plans at the facility were defective and that had they been better, lives may have been saved.
The fire broke out in a cupboard at the home on the night of January 31st, 2004. It ripped through the building and eventually caused fourteen Rosepark residents to lose their lives and four more to sustain injuries.
The inquiry, which took place over a 141-day period, took into account the nine minute delay between the alarm being raised and the emergency services being called. Staff at the home were following the care home’s practice and had to locate the fire before dialling 999. There was also an extra four minute delay when the fire brigade tried to use the wrong entrance to the home.
Sheriff principal Brian Lockhart, the head of the inquiry, has now published his findings. He concluded that there were serious problems with fire safety training, communication, evacuation arrangements.
He also criticised the home’s inadequate fire risk assessment, as it failed to identify residents as being the most at risk in the event of a fire. In short, the home’s management failed to plan for a worst-case scenario.