‘I can't get out, I'm trapped’

HOMELESS Jamie Parker shouted ‘I can't get out’ as a fire ripped through a derelict city centre bar.

- Jon Bamber

HOMELESS Jamie Parker shouted ‘I can't get out’ as a fire ripped through a derelict city centre bar.

But other members of Hanley's homeless community were unable to save the 40-year-old as the fire inside the old Yates's, below, was too severe and the smoke too thick.

Mr Parker’s inquest, held yesterday at Stoke Civic Centre, heard fire appliances from Hanley, Newcastle and Longton were sent to the Brockley Square inferno after nine 999 calls were made at 5.48am on March 12 last year.

Lead fire investigation officer Tom Edwards, from the West Midlands Fire Service, went to the scene the following day as crews were still present. He said: “Ten appliances were used in the end to bring it under control. The roof had caved in. When I arrived it was out. The fire service was still in attendance for several days. We discovered Jamie’s body by the late afternoon of Wednesday, March 13. There was no chance of there being any survivors.”

Mr Parker’s body was recovered from the kitchen area of the ground floor. Mr Edwards said: “Both doors were in a closed position. He could not make his way out. He was close to the back of the door but the fire doors were locked. He would not have got through there.

“We were satisfied that nothing was used as an accelerant. A naked flame is the most viable (cause of the fire). It would have been easy for a small fire to have gathered into the fire it did. It was a big open space, plenty of oxygen, it could develop.

“I think the fires were deliberately lit but not with the intention of causing the fire they did. By the time the first crew arrived at 5.55am the fire was very well developed.