Housing Executive issues apology to tenant after fire

The woman, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Times how she smelt fumes coming from the ‘blow heater’ on Wednesday evening (October 10) and switched it off. She later switched it back on and soon noticed smoke coming from the appliance and the plastic starting to melt onto the hearth.

“If I had’ve dozed off on the sofa or been out of the room and left the fire or dear knows what might have happened,” she said.

The woman urged other residents in the estate to be wary, claiming that the heaters, which were installed by the NIHE during a renovation scheme several years ago, could be dangerous. However, the Housing Executive has stressed that it is treating the fire as “an isolated incident.”

“The Housing Executive is aware of an incident involving a focal point fire, which caused some limited smoke damage within the property in question. We regret any distress caused to the tenant and have arranged for the fireplace and focal point fire to be replaced,” a spokesman said.