Children's house fire deaths accidental - inquest

The deaths of two young children following a fire at their home were caused by an accident, a coroner has concluded.

Louis Busuioc, five, and three-year-old Desire Busuioc died four days after the blaze in Preston, Lancashire, on 8 April 2022.

Their parents have been critical of the emergency services' response time.

While coroner Chris Long did identify some failings, he ruled they had not contributed to the children's deaths and concluded they had happened in "a devastating and tragic accident".

A fire investigation found the probable cause was the use of a lighter found near a sofa on the ground floor.

Both parents said Louis had been caught with a lighter before, and had previously set fire to some clothes in the bedroom.

Mr Long said: "The scene faced by emergency services was self evident. The management of the scenes was incredibly difficult.

"There were some failings but I have not found any failings that had contributed to death.

"The fire was started accidentally by one of the children playing with a lighter. It spread incredibly quickly, preventing exit from the property."

He said the medical cause of the children's deaths was hypoxic brain injury caused by smoke inhalation.

North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) told the hearing an emergency call about the fire had initially been wrongly classified as "category two".

"Category one" calls, which require a seven-minute response time, are reserved for life-threatening situations.

That was done several minutes later when Lancashire Police called to report two children were being given CPR outside the property.

NWAS service delivery manager Angela Lee told the hearing on Monday "we would have been able to mobilise specialist resources, senior clinicians and more ambulances" had the highest priority level been allocated earlier.

But NWAS also said there were no ambulances available and so it was unlikely an ambulance would have got there sooner.

Consultant paediatrician Adam Howells said the two children had suffered irreversible brain damage in the fire.

He said it was "speculation" and "impossible" to say if the children would have survived with earlier treatment.

The inquest heard lessons had been learned from the incident, with NWAS staff across the region receiving training.

The inquest has previously been told the children's mother Lorena Feraru had fallen asleep in the bedroom before being woken up by the blaze.

Mr Long said she "struggled" in the horrific conditions.

"The children were frightened and would not go out of the window," he said.

Ms Feraru was eventually persuaded by neighbours to jump to safety and had hoped the children would be rescued, the inquest heard.

The children were taken to the Royal Preston Hospital and then transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital, where they died a few days later.

After the inquest concluded, an NWAS spokesperson said: "The circumstances of the accident are incredibly sad.

"It is tragic nothing more could've been done to save these two young children.

"Our hearts go out to Louis and Desire’s family."

They added: "We have closely examined our response to this incident to ensure in all cases, the public receives the emergency response they need."

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