Liam Moriarty was just four-months-old when he died in a blaze at a Friern Barnet pub on Monday. The youngster's death highlights the challenges facing the Fire Brigade in its attempts to cut fire casualties.

A smoke alarm fitted on the first floor of the Alexandra Arms pub in Cromwell Road was not enough to save Liam.

It went off at 8pm while his parents were downstairs.

Family and friends were held back by the ferocity of the flames, despite desperate attempts to rescue the youngster.

An investigation is now under way to find how the fire started. Liam's death is only the borough's most recent, and highlights the fact that simply fitting a smoke alarm is not enough to stop fires.

On Wednesday last week, firefighters arrived at Doris Winkworth's Friern Barnet flat within minutes of a fire taking hold, but were still too late to save her life.

The blaze in her lounge was swiftly extinguished but the 56-year-old mother-of-one was dead.

A post mortem later confirmed smoke inhalation as the cause, and an investigation into how the fire started was this week underway.

Firefighters said her first-floor flat in Steward's Holte Walk had no smoke alarm.

The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) this month published a new report painting what has been described as a 'shocking' picture, outlining the causes of 411 fire deaths in London between 1996 and 2000.

Barnet fared considerably better in terms of the number of fatal fires than neighbouring Brent, and slightly better than Harrow and Haringey.

Figures hint at the conclusion drawn by report author Dr Paul Holborn from South Bank University that those in poorer areas are at greater risk from fire deaths than their more affluent neighbours.

Dr Holborn could not be specific but Barnet has had between five and nine deaths over the last four years as well as 37 injuries, some serious, over the last year alone.

Assistant District Officer Mark Brown, sub officer at Finchley fire station, said: "Barnet is a reasonably well-off area, and if you compare it to the rest of London it is not bad."

He said the key to bringing down the number of deaths was for the fire brigade to take a more active approach, going out into the community to force home the need to fit smoke alarms and improve fire safety awareness.

Residents should adopt fire escape plans and know what to do if there was a blaze, he said.

Of the 104 dwelling fires attended by firefighters in Barnet between April and September this year, 70 per cent of homes were not fitted with smoke alarms.

"That is quite a horrendous figure for us, bearing in mind all the TV campaigns," Mr Brown said.

"If 70 per cent of 104 did not have smoke alarms, it makes you wonder how many people in the whole borough have not got them fitted," he added.

After the fatal fire at the Alexandra Arms pub, Mr Brown said fire officers would be leafleting homes in the surrounding area before going back in two weeks time, knocking on doors and talking to people while the horrific fire was still fresh in their minds.

"With this sort of incident, we have got to have personal contact knocking on doors rather than just leafleting. All the houses will have heard about the fire. They could see the fire from their homes," he said.

Councillor Brian Coleman, Greater London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden and leader of the Conservative group on the LFEPA, was shocked at the latest figures.

"Whilst neither Barnet or Camden has the highest number of deaths, there is no room for complacency," he said. "The number of fire deaths is still outrageous. The level is just too high."

Bodies such as social services and schools need to be working with the fire brigade to get over a message of awareness and responsibility to prevent fires happening in the first place, Mr Coleman said.

"The advice has to be about more than just fitting smoke alarms. It has got to be about people from all sorts of areas taking responsibility. There should be no excuses for fire deaths these days."

Few would disagree that the new ethos sweeping the fire brigade that prevention is better than cure is a positive move.

But the cases of Liam Moriarty and Doris Winkworth show young and old are still at risk, and can serve only to push home the vital importance of the message.

November 14, 2001 18:06

JULIAN HILLS