I SAW FLAMES COMING OUT OF TUMBLE DRYER
Flatmate reveals terror as home filled up with smoke in blaze which killed Scots restaurateur
A BLAZE survivor told an inquest yesterday how he saw flames coming from the tumble dryer in a flat where a Scots restaurateur died.
Doug McTavish, 39, was killed along with flatmate Bernard Hender, 19, in the fire in 2014.
Garry Lloyd Jones, 50, who also lived in the flat, told the hearing in Abergele, north Wales, how he woke to find the property filled with smoke.
He said: “I just remember walking down the corridor to see what was going on and seeing flames coming out of the tumble dryer.
“I went back to the bedroom but the smoke had increased.
“It was getting thicker and thicker and I just started shouting for Doug and knocking on the door saying, ‘Get out there’s a fire’.”
Garry, who was Bernard’s partner, added: “I went to the bed and I grabbed Bernie’s wrist and shouted, ‘Come on, the house is on fire, get up’.
“He was in total shock and he pulled from me. I said, ‘Get to the floor’ because you could see the smoke was less dense.
“He said, ‘I can’t find the door’ and he just screamed and that was the last I heard of him.”
Fire investigator Paul Jenkinson told the inquest the blaze had started in or around the Hotpoint dryer in the laundry room of the flat in Llanrwst, Conwy. He said the exact cause was not established but could have been a fault with the machine. Jenkinson said: “It could be a range of things related to the tumble dryer that were not investigated by the fire service.” US firm Whirlpool warned owners to unplug certain dryers after a potential fire risk was identified in models from their Hotpoint, Creda and Indesit brands manufactured between 2004 and 2015. Dominic Adamson, representing Whirlpool, said the blaze could have been started by an iron which was left plugged in in the room.
Jenkinson said: “The majority of indicators indicate the most likely cause was in the vicinity of the tumble dryer.
“However, I could not categorically rule out the possibility of the iron.”
Garry, who was Doug’s business partner in the Tannery restaurant in Llanwrst, told the hearing he and Bernard had returned to the flat at around 12.30am October 9, 2014.
Doug, who lived and worked in Aberdeen before moving south, was in bed at the time.
Garry said he saw the tumble dryer with the door open and some towels inside.
He went to bed and woke at 6am in a panic to find the flat was filled with smoke.
After trying in vain to get Doug and Bernard out, Garry managed to crawl from the flat and raise the alarm. The inquest continues. Hundreds of locals in Llanrwst turned out for Doug’s funeral and the cortege was led by a piper.
His family had planned to take his ashes home to Scotland but they were so touched by the community’s response to the tragedy that they decided they should be scattered on the banks of the Conwy River instead.
Doug’s father Douglas previously said of the fire: “The only thing we can hope now is that the problem is removed, the people responsible for this stand up and are accountable, and that it never happens again.”