Jack Owen Sheldon · Prevention of Future Deaths report

On 01/11/2016 I commenced an investigation into the death of Jack Owen Sheldon, 13 . The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 14 March 2017. The conclusion of the inquest was Accident.

On the 27th October 2016 Jack Sheldon was stripping paint off a motorbike he had bought in the shed in the garden of his home with the door closed. The shed filled with petrol vapours and petrol leaked onto objects within the shed. At some point after 20.00 hrs on the 27th the petrol vapours reached a flammable level and reached the naked flame of the candle (being used for light) and flashed and thereafter led to an intense shed fire. It was not known that Jack was in the shed until after the fire had been extinguished. Four emergency calls were made to the fire service, the first call led to reservation of an appliance but this was not mobilised as the second call taken had more detailed information leading the operator to mobilise the second allocated appliance, which was in fact the second nearest, leading to a delay of some four minutes in the appliance arriving at the scene. It is unlikely that this would have made a difference to the outcome to Jack.

(1) Lack of an effective system for management of multiple calls being received regarding the same incident and prioritisation of appliances.
(2) Lack of effective training of staff with regard to the importance of verbal communication
(3) Lack of effective protocols for mobilisation of appropriate appliances and associated training of staff
(4) Need for training of staff to ensure they have full knowledge of the systems in place to check availability of appliances prior to mobilisation.
(5) An overview of the system generally with regard to the practicality of operators switching between screens to check appliances and their availability and location when already dealing with emergency situations.