Ex-Concorde inspector died in fire at Bristol home

A former Concorde inspector died from smoke inhalation after flames from a tea towel left on his oven spread to the rest of his kitchen.

An inquest heard that Bob Bartley, of Duncombe Lane, Speedwell, was last seen by his carer at 8.30pm on May 2, 2008.

At 11pm that evening, a neighbour called the fire brigade after seeing flames coming from the kitchen of Mr Bartley's house, where he lived alone after the death of his wife.

Mr Bartley, a former BA Systems engineer and Concorde inspector who worked as ground crew for Lancaster bombers during World War II, was found knelt over a chair in the living room. He died two days later in Frenchay Hospital.

Mr Bartley, 88, had two children, Richard and Margaret, and one grandson. His son Richard said: "He was a fiercely independent man. He wanted to live on his own and it was a hard fight to get people to see him every day."

Mr Bartley suffered from dementia and also was having frequent falls before he died.

In a statement read out at the inquest, his carer Chris Fountain said: "Mr Bartley had deteriorated over the two months or so that I had been visiting him. He would be quite forgetful. For example, I had to often remind him to drink his cup of tea.

"But frankly I had no worries about him. He was jovial and joking. We often joked together."

Stephen Bagg from Weston-super-Mare fire station described in detail to the inquest how the fire in the kitchen of Mr Bartley's home quickly spread. It started when a tea towel left on the electric oven rings caught alight. It seems that Mr Bartley attempted to fight the fire with a plastic mop and potato bin lid.

But the mop melted and this in turn set fire to the fridge seal, then the fridge door, which exposed the highly combustible insulation material. The fire then spread to the kitchen unit, worktops and table.

The fire was contained within the kitchen, but much of the house was smoke damaged by what Mr Bagg described as "thick, acrid, toxic smoke".

Avon deputy coroner Brian Whitehouse recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: "I do find it disturbing that a refrigerator is so very combustible. I find that the towel was inadvertently left on top of the cooker by Bob.

"I find therefore that the fire was caused accidentally. This as we have heard sadly led to Bob's death due to smoke inhalation just two days later."