Karl Smallman
A FAMILY of six has died after a fire at a casa rural in Tordomar, near Burgos in northern Spain.
Three adults aged between 35 to 59 and three young boys aged from four to six were killed following the blaze. It is thought they died from smoke inhalation.
Another five relatives were injured and were treated in hospital for breathing problems and minor burns.
Local reports suggest the fire began after a sofa was set alight by a spark from a fireplace.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry of the Castilla y Leon area said emergency services were called to the small hotel after the fire broke out as the family slept.
The victims, from Madrid and Gijón, are thought to have been staying in the region for a family celebration.
Smoke detectors? Carbon monoxide detectors? If not, why not? If not, will prosecutions follow?
Very tragic, my sincere prayers to the family. This speaks to why it is so important never to leave a fire unattended.
Christine: Or to leave a hotel unprotected, by cheap, modern methods.
Why was’nt the sofa made of fire retardent material, this has been a legal requirement in the UK for more than twenty years.
stefanjo I can’t remember the exact year but around 2003/4 a hotel rural in Murcia did’nt bother to have it’s boiler checked and 18 young people died of c/m – no prosecutions followed – the owner was enchufargo.
Christine, what a silly comment. In the UK when I was young everyone had coal/log fires, the worst that could happen was a chimney fire, because these chimneys were’nt cleaned regulary but no one died.
Anyone with half a brain knows that a real fire should always have a ‘fireguard’ – the number of times that our fire used to spit out an ember, not a problem with a fireguard.
I intend to use 3 x gas bottles converted into small log burners – each will have a fireguard – simple and will be sited on stone paving with at least 2 ft of stone all around ergo no problem/no danger.
Stuart, it was not a silly comment. There are many fires that start because they are unattended and/or people do not know proper fire safety. I don’t find people’s death silly at all. It is tragic that a vacation at a holiday home came to such a tragic ending…Period!
My word you just have to find a way to try an insult someone every chance you get.
Stuart: Reminds me of a guy building those gas-bottle stoves in a corner of an old mill in Yorkshire. He cannibalised other bottles, cutting out a piece slightly larger and the same shape as, the fuel aperture on the stove he was making. This served as a door, bolted or welded on with hinges. It could be closed to, acting as a guard/damper.
Try and roll with it Christine, everyone loves you really. Even Stuart.
Proper fire safety Christine what on earth are you on about.
I taught myself horticulture when I was a teenager, only lack of finance stopped me from becoming a market gardener.
I built lots of fires from deadwood and other rubbish that could not be composted, learned how to do it safely – mostly common sense, never had a problem.
So what your saying is that if you light a fire eg. in a living room you must never leave it, not even to visit the toilet or work in the kitchen – what rubbish.
stefanjo – that’s exactly what I intend to buy – it would cost too much to buy all the cutting/welding equipment and make them myself.
But here’s my take on these stoves – use a pipe and you lose a lot of the heat. No, I’m going back to the common sense attitude our ancestors had right up to the 17th century. they left a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape and sensibly sited the fire in the middle of the room – radiant heat and lots of it. Just have to create an umbrella type structure made from fireproof material at ceiling hight feeding any smoke out to a down draught proof cowling – the type I’m going to use is seen all over Spain.
Smoke is not a problem if you use wood that has been seasoned and is bone dry – dry wood produces more heat and less ash.
Take a look on Ebay.uk – there are many such stoves, most around the £65. It’s also a fallacy that you can’t/should’nt use softwood, just make sure it is dry.
Using a commercial stove is a no-no for us as they are enormous and have to be because of the old houses they are used in. With a well insulated house they are OTT.
Yeh, roll with it Christine.
There is such thing as proper fire safety. In fact the kids at our C.E.I.P go to the firehouse to learn about it. If you had bothered to listen to the news or read the paper you would know that the fire was left over night and embers ignited a sofa while they were sleeping.
If you really thought “by leaving unattended” I meant you have to sit in front of the fire at every waking moment not going to the bathroom etc.. then lack of finances isn’t the only thing you were and are short of I’m afraid.