Fire chief lashes slack laws after Woolworth’s tragedy

Press, 11 May 1979, Page 6

Fire chief lashes slack laws after Woolworth’s tragedy

NZPA Manchester Manchester's fire chief has demanded tighter fire laws and has said that a sprinkler system could have stopped the Woolworth’s blaze from spreading so fast. Meanwhile, the police yesterday were still trying to identify four of the 10 victims. They are working on the theory that they lived alone and will not be missed until paper and milk starts piling up at their homes. The human tragedy behind the statistics emerged yesterday when a 31-year-old father-of-two, Tom Heaton, discovered that he has lost both his wife and sister in the blaze. His sister, Hazel, who

was 29, a ship’s stewardess on the Q.E.2, had returned from leave on Saturday and was in the store on a shopping expedition with his wife, Susan, who was 27. She was to have been married in November to a ship’s steward who is still on the liner.

As the painstaking work of sifting through the debris went on, the city’s chief fire officer (Mr Ron Bullars) hit out at laws which allow firms not to have sprinkler and fire detection systems. New buildings have to instal them. Rut older

ones — the Piccadilly store was built in 1929 — are not covered by building regulations. “I would like to see legislation introduced, or changes in the code of practice brought in, whereby a local authority

can require fire protection and detection measures being introduced before a certificate is granted,” Mr Bullars said. There would have been less risk of the fire spreading if a sprinkler system had been installed. “It was a very rapid spread indeed.” A Woolworth’s spokesman emphasised that the store complied with local authority requirements.

But he added that a complete review of all stores had begun and the company might decide to improve its safety measures beyond those actually required. Firemen have now established that the blaze began in the furniture department. Among the charred and melted furniture they found the material that was first ignited, but thw might

never find out what exactly started the fire. “We are looking at the possibility of an electrical fault or indeed whether it began because someone was careless with smoking materials,” said Mr Bullars.

Evidence of the panicstricken flight from the second floor was all round when journalists toured the building yesterday. A woman’s right shoe torn off in the rush lay on the stairs. Half-empty cups and plates of charred food lay on the restaurant tables with knives and forks tossed down as the diners fled for their lives. The Queen s-ent a message of sympathy to the chairman of Woolworth’s and asked for it to be extended to the families of the victims. She wished the inqured a speedy recovery’.