Blaze ‘No one realised until I posted pictures’
ARESIDENT living inside one of Bristol City Council’s flammable building blocks claims a fire broke out last weekend and not even the emergency services knew about it.
Kelly Davis, who has lived in Holroyd House in the Windmill Hill area of Bristol for the past 20 years, said she was shocked when a “terrified” neighbour pounded on her apartment door last Friday (November 18) alerting her to the remains of a fire on the sixth floor stairwell.
Miss Davis said she was shocked when she saw the blackened ceiling and burned-out window frame with what appeared to be melted particles dripping onto the landing floor.
The 44-year-old said when she arrived home at around 2pm that day she detected a foul chemical smell but mistook it for someone decorating inside the building.
But what amazed her the most was the lack of awareness that there was a blaze at all. She claims the neighbour had been home all day and did not hear a fire alarm or the sound of panic.
Still stunned by the sight and smell, Miss Davis immediately took photographs and shared them with a local Facebook group to find out if anyone else living at Holroyd House was aware and was dumbfounded to learn that “nobody knew”.
“When something happens here everybody knows because you can hear the sirens, but nobody knows anything. It’s really bizarre,” she added.
Miss Davis said Holroyd House was assigned a 24/7 fire warden because the building was one of 38 blocks in Bristol deemed to have
flammable polystyrene cladding.
“If there’s a fire, the staircase is our only escape route so we’d have no way of getting out of the building,” she said.
Due to it being late at night, Miss Davis was unable to inform Bristol City Council but claimed to have spoken to an evening fire marshall
who said the incident happened around 12.40pm and was “put out quickly”. She was also told that the day shift fire marshall had reported it but there was no confirmation the emergency services were called.
Miss Davis described the scene as if someone had “deliberately” ignited the flames, and continues to question why the residents were not immediately notified.
“There are people actually living in this block that didn’t know anything until I posted the pictures online. Nobody knocked on our doors to say there was a fire and no communal fire alarms went off. That could have potentially been lifethreatening.
“My flat could have gone right up in flames..”
She is not aware that the incident has been reported or investigated by the police or fire service but claims to have spotted council caretakers clearing up the scene around 8am on Monday.
The Post’s sister website Bristol Live approached Bristol City Council for comment but it had not responded as the Post went to press.
A spokesperson from Avon Fire & Rescue Service said: “We were not called to an incident at Holroyd House on Friday November 18. We encourage all those living and working in our area to always call 999 if there is a fire, and never attempt to tackle the fire yourself.”