Following an incident in Palmers Green 'which could have had deadly consequences', London Fire Brigade have issued a warning about the risks of carbon monoxide fumes produced by poorly maintained fires. The brigade emphasizes that households that use open fires or wood burners need to keep chimneys and flues clean and well maintained and have chimneys swept by a registered sweep annually (or twice a year if burning wood).
In this case, residents of a flat in Osborne Road could have died as a consequence of the actions of people in a neighbouring property:
We've issued an urgent safety warning asking residents to check their open fire chimney and flue are in good working condition, following a recent call out to a north London home, where dangerously high carbon monoxide (CO) levels were recorded and could have led to fatalities if left undetected.
The incident, at a semi-detached house that had been converted into flats on Osborne Road, came to the resident’s attention after they noticed a smell of burning. Our crews and a gas engineer investigated the source and found it was due to an open fire next door. Firefighters fear if the resident had not raised the alarm due to the smell of burning, it could have been fatal to all the occupants in the building. The Brigade went to the home after fumes from a neighbouring flat entered the property. The cause of the high CO levels was due to an open fire, which was lit in an adjoining flat earlier in the day. It had been left to smoulder and was not venting correctly, as neighbours went out for the evening.
