A “HOARDER” died in a high-rise tower block blaze after tea light candles set mounds of paper and cardboard on fire, an inquest heard.

Former carer Teresa Bolam, 58, was killed in the blaze in her top floor flat at Anson House, Thornaby, in April this year.

She is believed to have been using the candles to light her flat because she was struggling to top up her electricity meter.

But it took 20 minutes for the concierge team at the Thirteen Housing Group, which owns the 11-storey tower block, to call out the fire brigade after noticing an alarm activation.

This was because they had had dozens of false alarms in the months leading up to the fatal fire and felt “peer pressure” to thoroughly check each one was genuine before they called fire crews.

There was also “confusion” over the procedures after the fire brigade had just the week before asked Thirteen to screen any fire alarms before they called out emergency services.

Concierge Peter McLaren, who was on shift covering Thirteen’s properties across Stockton and Middlesbrough in the early hours of the morning on April 19, said he noticed the alarm and he and a colleague tried to reach Miss Bolam via the telephone.

When she could not be reached, he decided to go to Thornaby to investigate rather than following the company’s official procedure of calling out the fire brigade.

Once he got to the flat he realised the alarm was genuine and radioed to call fire crews, who evacuated the top three floors of the block and put out the fire, which had not spread to other areas of the building – but Miss Bolam had already died of smoke inhalation.

Carolyn Halpin, assurance and risk manager at Thirteen, said there had been some to “peer pressure” from Cleveland Fire Brigade over the number of false alarms in the months leading up to the fire. But she said following the tragedy all procedures had been tightened up and staff trained about exactly what they should do, in full cooperation with fire officers.

It is not known exactly when Miss Bolam died, but the inquest heard it was impossible to tell whether quicker action would have saved her life. She had been to the pub, was two and a half over the drink drive limit and had lit candles instead of switching on the light, Teesside Coroners Court was told.

Coroner Claire Bailey ruled Miss Bolam’s death had been a ‘tragic accident’ and that the amount of hoarded goods had contributed to the scale of the fire. Miss Bolam had recently moved from a two-bedroom to a one-bedroom flat because of the bedroom tax and her many possessions were even more crowded into her home.

She said the delay in calling 999 ‘hadn’t helped the situation’.

“I am reassured by the good work that has been undertaken by the Thirteen group and the Fire Brigade and I welcome the ongoing collaborative work since,” she said.