Two recent episodes from the north of England proves how careful you have to be with boilers, with an explosion at a Darwen Church and a family escaping death from fumes in Burnley.

A few days into the new year and parts of the chimney stack from the Sacred Heart and St Edward’s Roman Catholic Church fell to the ground as gas escaped into the boiler’s flue and caused an explosion. Fire crews called to the scene immediately isolated the gas supply and engineers shut down the boiler room, condemning the equipment. A second boiler, adjacent to the church boiler and used to heat a neighbouring school, was also condemned.

The explosion, at around 8am in the morning, occurred after the boilers were lit. Once the boilers were made safe, the church and school were given heaters to keep the cold at bay.

Up the road in Burnley a family had a lucky escape on New Year’s Eve due to the effects of carbon monoxide fumes escaping from a faulty gas boiler. Only the arrival of the house owner’s daughter prevented the deaths of the nine people staying there.

Arriving at the house at around 9:30am, the daughter encountered a horrific scene, with the nine people in an advanced state of carbon monoxide poisoning, with some asleep and some wandering around in a state of stress. The daughter took immediate action, flinging windows open and getting people out of the house.

Doctors at the Royal Blackburn Hospital said the rescued people were around 20 minutes away from death if they had stayed in the house. Each person had high levels of carbon monoxide in their systems and were given oxygen on arrival at hospital. None were detained overnight.

A National Grid engineer was dispatched to turn the boiler off and advised the family to call in a Corgi registered fitter to supply a new system. It is believed the faulty boiler was old. A National Grid spokesman reminded people through the local media that boilers should be serviced annually if they are to be trusted to work safely and efficiently.

The deadly carbon monoxide prevents blood from doing its job properly by stopping the supply of oxygen to organs, tissues and cells. The gases are caused when the carbon based fuel in the boiler is not burned completely, creating a highly toxic gas which people find hard to smell. They can become overcome without realising there is a problem.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

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