A GIANT inflatable mat would not have saved two men who plunged from
the 16th floor of a blazing tower block, a fatal accident inquiry was
told yesterday.
And a trampolene would also have been useless, Sheriff Gerald Gordon
heard.
For the men hit the roof of a nearby building after falling 170ft from
the flats in Gorbals, Glasgow, last May.
Mr Dan Kelso, 27, and Mr David O'Lone, 24, both of Croftfood Quadrant,
Castlemilk, Glasgow, died instantly, the hearing into their deaths was
told.
Sub Fire Officer James McLoone, 36, admitted that his control-room had
not bothered to tell crews racing to the fire scene in Caledonia road
that a man was clinging to the outside of the flats.
He agreed with advocate Robert Skinner, acting for the dead men's
relatives, that his efforts could have blown the man from the ledge.
If water had been hosed inside the burning flat, steam could have gone
out of the window and knocked the man to his death, he agreed.
His hose was empty when the man finally let go.
He was waiting for his men below to send water up to him, he told
fiscal Denise Greaves.
Mr Skinner claimed that efforts could have been made to rescue the man
from the floor below by leaning over a balcony and grabbing him.
Mr Skinner asked: ''Was it your conscious decision to sacrifice the
man on the ledge for others who may have been in the flat?''
Officer McLoone replied: ''I was following procedure.''
Said Mr Skinner: ''If someone is hanging from the outside of a Glasgow
high-rise flat, then officer McLoone won't rescue them?''
Officer McLoone replied: ''I didn't have the spare men or the time. I
was hoping to rescue him by going through the flat and grabbing him from
there.''
The inquiry also heard that, while the fire-fighting team on the 16th
floor waited for water from below, a hose to be connected to the
building's inlet valve was found to be 6ft short and caused a delay.
The inquiry continues.
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