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Source: ONE News -
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An investigation into a fatal house fire in Canterbury has found that firefighters acted responsibly.
That is despite the fact that an elderly woman was left for dead inside the burning property and two firefighters had been drinking a few hours before the call-out.
Eighty-seven year old Jean Chaston died in her Rangiora home two months ago.
Her death has been under investigation for weeks with allegations the firefighters bungled the job and claims the victim may have survived if she had been rescued earlier.
Operational logs show firefighters took nearly an hour to find the woman and get her out. They show that when they first found her one of the firefighters thought she was already dead and, running out of oxygen, left her inside.
It was 25 minutes before the woman was finally pulled out and while paramedics revived her she died the next day in hospital.
The lengthy report released on Tuesday, investigates why it took such a long time to find her.
"My firefighters on arrival at the incident were given incorrect information as to the location of Mrs Chaston in the fire, and that led to considerable delay in finding her body," says Mike Hall, National Commander.
When she was finally found, they admit she was wrongly declared dead.
"That was the decision the firefighter made, under extreme pressure," says Hall.
However the Professional Firefighters union says the investigation is flawed.
"How much comfort does this give the family? Because it draws no conclusions," says Steve Ward, NZ Professional Firefights Union.
But the national commander says it completely exonerates his senior officers, including two who had been drinking the day of the fire.
One had five beers and a wine a few hours before and was driven to the callout.
Jean Chaston's family have also received a copy of the report and have commented that it is an internal audit and they are waiting to see what comes out of an independent assessment at the inquest.
The volunteers union says everything was done properly in a very difficult fire, despite its tragic outcome.
