"If she's dead that's on you": OAP dies in house blaze after operator overruled decision to send firefighters
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A pensioner died after a fire broke out in her home which took firefighters more than 90 minutes to attend.
Molly Wigmore, 76, whose death was caused by smoke inhalation, lived just a mile from a fire station but the initial 999 call reporting an alarm sounding and smell of smoke from her house was dismissed as just "smoke in the area".
That 999 call was made at 5.17am and should have automatically led to a crew being dispatched to investigate but a senior operator on duty overruled, which meant no-one was sent.
Neighbours made a second call at 6.44am and a fire engine finally arrived at 6.50am, 93 minutes after the first 999 report, by which time the house was well alight.
(Image: Plymouth Herald / SWNS.com)
Mrs Wigmore was later found dead in her bedroom and her pet cat Geraldine also died in the fire in Plymouth, Devon.
An angry neighbours yelled: "You should have been here two hours ago" and that "if she's dead, it's on you" to fire crews when they arrived at her home, a coroner heard.
Station manager David Roddy, who led an investigation, confirmed that one officer in the control room was dismissed after the blunder in October.
A second received a final written warning and re-training over the incident.
(Image: Plymouth Herald / SWNS.com)
The inquest in Plymouth heard a call handler dismissed the smell from the burning house as 'only smoke in the area' to one worried neighbour.
Mr Roddy told the coroner the blame lay with individual error and said: "This was an individual failing rather than an organisational failing."
The inquest found that a crew deployment was "overruled" in a "breach of procedure".
Mr Roddy told the hearing that following a call reporting a smell of smoke a minimum of one pump should have been deployed immediately.
(Image: Plymouth Herald / SWNS.com)
Mrs Wigmore's house was around a mile-and-a-half from Camel's Head Fire Station.
However, the senior operator overruled sending a pump to a call about "smoke in the area".
The inquest heard that two fire control room officers "failed to deal with calls with due diligence".
Mr Roddy said call handlers should have taken 'more care' over three calls to take the right course of action.
Det Con Glenn Harrop told the inquest that Mrs. Wigmore was in poor health and for these reasons it "couldn't be proved beyond all reasonable doubt" whether the delay in sending the fire engine resulted in her death.
Coroner Ian Arrow recorded a narrative conclusion.
After the inquest her sister Sheila said: "Molly was a loving lady. I am satisfied this was a one off but it is too tragic".