Cameron House hotel fire affects my son every day, says survivor

A survivor of a hotel fire which claimed the lives of two guests has told how her son still suffers from anxiety.

Simon Midgley and his partner Richard Dyson died in the blaze at Cameron House on the banks of Loch Lomond on 18 December 2017.

Hannah Munns was staying in a room next to the couple with her husband and then five-year-old son.

She said: "It still impacts my son's life day in, day out."

A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) was held last year to establish if lessons could be learned from the tragedy.

On Wednesday, a sheriff said Mrs Munns and her family were "very fortunate" to survive after the alarm was raised at about 06:40.

They were among more than 200 guests who were evacuated from the luxury resort near Balloch, West Dunbartonshire.

In a 122-page determination, published on Wednesday, Sheriff Thomas McCartney made a series of recommendations.

Mrs Munns, from Leeds, told BBC Scotland it was a "relief" to finally read the report.

She said: "It feels like someone has listened and the real issues have come through.

"They are recognising all those things that went wrong which could have prevented the two men from dying."

Mrs Munns also said she was encouraged that issues which could have prevented the fire had been identified.

These included having a "clear system of work" for the safe cleaning and removal of ash from the open fires at the hotel, and the installation of a sprinkler system.

She added that putting the recommendations in place would save lives in the future and make people feel safer when entering a hotel.

But Mrs Munns said the fire had taken a heavy toll on her family.

"It has been horrendous," she said. "What I am most emotional about is my son.

"He was five and is now 10 and he still doesn't sleep. He won't be away from us. He won't stay away from us.

"He won't do all the things that a normal 10-year-old would do because he has experienced that moment that you realise you are not going to live forever."

The inquiry heard Mrs Munns described seeing smoke coming under their hotel room door within 30 seconds of the alarm being sounded.

The family left their room and ran down the main staircase to the reception foyer.

But they saw the Christmas tree in the reception area was on fire and there was smoke on the stairway and decided to go back upstairs.

There they encountered another family who were trying to find their way out through the dark, smoky corridors.

They eventually reached safety after hearing a staff member call out from a side door.

Reflecting on her son's ordeal, Mrs Munns said: "He learnt at five years old that these things can go wrong and, as such, he has got really serious anxiety issues.

"It just breaks my heart that he has learnt so young that these things can go wrong.

"And it impacts his life day in, day out."

Mrs Munns said she did draw some comfort from the fact the FAI report may help to prevent other families from suffering the same experience and "hopefully same some lives".

Sheriff McCartney said the Munns family were lucky to escape the fire.

He added: "I considered this evidence particularly significant as Mrs Munns and her family were in the room next to Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson on the same corridor.

"The conditions with which Mrs Munns and family were confronted are likely to have been the same if not worse when Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson left their room."

Mrs Munns also paid tribute to Mr Midgley's mother, Jane, who led the campaign for a fatal accident inquiry after the Crown Office initially said one would not be held.

She said: "She has been amazing and so strong given everything she has been through, and that has given me the will to fight on.

"We could have just kept quiet. We could have just not said anything. We could have let happen what happened but actually then nothing would have changed and this tragedy would happen again in a hotel to somebody else.

"And it will continue happening until things change."

The fire broke out after night porter Christopher O'Malley left a plastic bag of ash in a concierge's cupboard at the reception area which contained newspapers and kindling.

In his findings, Sheriff McCartney said there were precautions which could realistically have avoided the fire breaking out at the five-star hotel.

Sheriff McCartney also said there were "a number of defects in systems of working which contributed to the accident resulting in the deaths".

These included:

The sheriff made six recommendations in his report, which included the need for hotels to have up-to-date procedures in place to ensure that ash from open fires is removed and disposed of safely.

He said the Scottish government should consider introducing a requirement for sprinkler systems to be installed when historic buildings are converted to hotels.

And he said there should be "robust arrangements" to ensure that everyone is accounted for in the event of evacuation, and that all staff have experience of evacuation drills.

The Scottish government said it would consider the report's recommendations and respond "in due course".

Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Ltd was previously ordered to pay £500,000 after admitting to breaches of fire safety rules.

O'Malley, 35, who admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act, was given a community payback order.

Cameron House resort director Andy Roger said the report was an "an important milestone for everyone involved", especially the families of Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson.

He added: "In all our dealings with them over the past five years, they have borne their grief with great bravery and dignity."

He said the hotel had been rebuilt to "the most exacting fire safety standards possible" and that there had been "intensive" staff training.