Elderly couple died in blaze ignited while trying to refuel portable heater
Eleanor Storey, Press Association
An elderly couple died in a fire that engulfed their home after an attempt to refuel a portable heater resulted in a gas leak.
Marlene Mumford, 84, and William Mumford, 90, both died at the address in Caerphilly, South Wales, on December 12 last year.
An inquest into their deaths at Gwent Coroner’s Court on Wednesday heard the fire was likely to have ignited while Mr Mumford was fitting a new gas cylinder to a heater they regularly used.
Assistant coroner Sarah Le Fevre said it was believed Mr Mumford had attempted to carry the cylinder out of the home in an effort to remove the fire, but that this had only caused the flames to spread.
The fire service was called by pub-goers at the nearby Tylers Arms, where Mr and Mrs Mumford were “recognised and liked” by regulars, after they spotted flames and heard an explosion coming from the address at around 5pm.
On arrival, emergency services were initially unable to enter the house due to the extent of the damage caused by the blaze and firefighters reported seeing thick, black smoke “pumping out” of the property.
Mr and Mrs Mumford were both pronounced dead at the scene.
The coroner said: “This is a fire that ignited in the parlour, the back room of the property, likely in the process of fitting that new cylinder to the portable heater.
“What is possible is that William realised that the fire had taken, that he realised he was unable to close the cylinder or control the fire, and therefore thought, utterly understandably, that the best course would be to try and remove the fire from the house.”
“The fire started accidentally resulting from a mechanical or connection-related failure of a portable gas heater and gas bottle resulting in an uncontrolled gas release,” she added.
The coroner said it was likely that Mr Mumford had “utterly unintentionally” spread the fire through other rooms of the property while trying to remove the cylinder.
Mr and Mrs Mumford’s causes of death were both recorded as resulting from exposure to the combustion products of fire.
The coroner concluded their deaths were accidental.
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These portable gas fires, often with a thin red rubber hose connexion between the cylinder and the fire, are extremely dangerous as a cause of gas leak with consequent explosion and should be banned. There are quite a few inferior Chinese ones on the market. In addition if operated indoors without a balanced flue they can rapidly generate lots of carbon monoxide, another potential lethal hazard. The use of portable gas cylinders indoors is questionable. There was a massive gas explosion in Seven Sisters i believe due to one connected to a stove.