Fire tragedy at care home

A DISCARDED pipe led to the death of an elderly man in a fire at a Crowborough nursing home.

Charles Naylor, 86, died hours after being engulfed in flames in his room at Woodlands Residential Home, in Beacon Road.

The retired dispensing optician suffered 80 per cent burns in the fire, which happened just hours before midnight on New Year s Eve. A nurse was treated for smoke inhalation after a desperate attempt to save the man.

Mr Naylor was said to have taken a pipe into his room at the nursing home every night before going to bed. It is believed the pipe toppled on to his clothes and sparked the blaze, at just before 7pm on Monday.

The nurse, who has not been named, risked her life by braving the choking fumes in a bid to save the resident. She and other staff threw a fire blanket over the pensioner in an attempt to put out the flames. However, they were beaten back by the intense heat and smoke and were forced to wait for firefighters to pull him from the room.

Mr Naylor was taken to the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells but died in the early hours of New Year s Day. The nurse was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

Staff at the 35-resident home, which is run by Sussex Housing and Care, were praised by chief executive Michael Goulden. He said: 'This is a tragic accident and our sympathies lie with Mr Naylor s family.

'He was a regular pipe smoker and was allowed to smoke in his own room. Our care staff were alerted when the smoke alarm was triggered. They carried out the appropriate fire drill and rushed to his aid with a fire blanket which they threw over him attempting to smother the flames. They were driven from his room by the thick black smoke and had to wait until the fire service arrived to deal with the incident.

'I would like to praise the courage of my staff. They acted swiftly and bravely but were sadly unable to save Mr Naylor s life.

He said other residents in the same quadrant of the home were moved to a downstairs lounge area while the fire was dealt with. He added that Mr Naylor s daughter, who lives locally, went to Woodlands after the fire where she was given details of the tragedy first hand.

A fire brigade spokesman said the fire was quickly put out, but added that firefighters were on the scene until 8.30pm. A police spokesman confirmed that the fire was not being treated as suspicious and that it was believed to have been caused by the discarded pipe. The spokesman said: 'It appears all safety precautions in the building were in place. The fire was contained in one room and all the other residents were safe.

Woodlands, opened 18 months ago by the Duke of Gloucester, cost 2.4 million and has modern fire prevention equipment, fire retardant furniture and smoke alarms in every room. Sussex Housing and Care is involved in running five other homes across the county, catering for about 750 elderly people. Mr Naylor s is the first such fatal incident to happen in one of SHC s care homes in its 50-year history.