Connie
Connie’s story
Connie is 82 years and lives alone in a rented second floor flat in a four storey block owned by a council housing provider. Connie has children and grandchildren who live nearby and regularly visits.
Connie is known to the community nursing services because of a long term severe health condition that impacts her mobility.
Connie has smoked all her life, and enjoys a few glasses of her favourite alcoholic beverages before retiring to bed.
Connie is well known in the local community and goes to the local older people day care centre in her mobility scooter.
One morning, the fire service were called by a passer by as they noticed smoke coming from one of the flat windows. On arrival, the fire crew could not gain entry to put out the fire due to clutter blocking access to the front room. They eventually made entry via a ladder to the rear window and managed to extinguish a small fire in the bedroom. The crew found Connie unconscious in the front room.
Connie was treated initially outside in an ambulance and taken to hospital where she was treated for smoke inhalation. Connie was discharged home after a robust risk assessment to include risk of fire with a package of care which mitigated the risk.
The fire investigators found that the cause of the fire was a stub of a cigarette which had fallen on the fitted carpet, near the bed.
Before the incident, the community nursing team had become increasingly concerned about the level of clutter in the house and made a referral to the fire service for a Home Fire Safety Visit (HFSV).
The fire service had visited the flat on several occasions but on each one Connie would not let them enter her flat. The visit had therefore remained outstanding.
Connie engaged well with the social worker after she returned from home to reduce the issues of risk such as not smoking in bed, and fire retardant bedding was provided. She also accepted support by clearing the clutter. She also accepted support from the local alcohol services to reduce her drinking.