Assistant deputy coroner Catherine Mason said the fire which killed Carmel O'Neill, and left firefighters Ian Tape and Grant Baugh severely injured, was completely avoidable.

Miss O'Neill was found by firefighters in the lounge of her home in Hill Top Crescent, Waterthorpe, Sheffield.

She was rushed to the Northern General Hospital following the fire on February 1, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

The 45-year-old, who had suffered a previous fire at her home because of a discarded cigarette, leaves a daughter Emma and partner Anthony Moorhouse.

Firefighter Tape, 32, suffered 35 per cent burns in the blaze and continues to require medical treatment. The dad-of-one, based at Maltby fire station, was back in the Northern General again this week for another skin graft operation. His colleague Grant Baugh, 27, from Rotherham station, suffered 12 per cent burns.

A Sheffield inquest heard Miss O'Neill had been drinking heavily before the fire broke out and had gone upstairs to bed. Toxicology reports found she had so much alcohol in her system she was more than four times the legal drink-driving limit.

Station manager Neil Baugh, based at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue headquarters, said the cause of the blaze was a discarded cigarette that had not been extinguished properly.

"We understand from speaking to various people that Carmel had been smoking and, as a result, we believe a carelessly discarded cigarette set fire to some combustible material," he told the inquest.

Mr Baugh said flames spread to the sofa and other items in the living room. The door was open, causing smoke and gases to spread upstairs, and the house was not fitted with a smoke alarm.

A post-mortem examination found Miss O'Neill died from smoke inhalation and severe acute alcohol intoxification.

Recording an accidental death verdict Ms Mason said: "This was a tragic death that could have been avoided. It really brings home the dangers of smoking under the influence of alcohol."

Speaking after the inquest Phil Hall, watch manager at the time of incident, acknowledged the firefighters' bravery, and said: "They rescued the lady in a very short space of time and gave her the best chance of surviving."

• FIFTEEN firefighters are undergoing a sponsored wax today to raise money for the burns units at the Northern General Hospital where their colleagues were treated. Four beauticians from Cannons Health Club in White Rose Way, Doncaster, have offered the hair-raising treatment for free.

READ MORE
Main news index.
Your letters.
Today's features.
Latest sport.