Crisp wrapper blockage killed family

dubtom · 29-12-2011 01:52PM #1

A plastic crisp wrapper thrown on to the dying embers of a fire caused the deaths of a father and his two children, Irish investigators now believe.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/crisp-wrapper-blockage-killed-family-16096512.html#ixzz1hvZV6uqDhttp://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/crisp-wrapper-blockage-killed-family-16096512.html

This is shocking, how something so simple as a crisp packet could kill those poor people. I'm constantly telling my Wife,who is a compulsive fire messer,to stay away from it.

Saila · 29-12-2011 01:55PM

is this the one about the carbon monoxide?

edit: my sympathy left when I saw it was the huge bag the 10+ packets of crisps come in. what numpty puts one of those on a fire

asking for it :rolleyes:

Mod: Poster banned.

bitemybanger · 29-12-2011 01:56PM

You couldn't do that if you tried.
Have you ever tried lighting a fire from a lit cigarette? It dosnt work but DON'T fall asleep holding one or else!

dubtom · 29-12-2011 01:58PM

Saila wrote: »

is this the one about the carbon monoxide?

yes

Nodin · 29-12-2011 02:04PM

dubtom wrote: »

This is shocking, how something so simple as a crisp packet could kill those poor people. I'm constantly telling my Wife,who is a compulsive fire messer,to stay away from it.

Bit more than an empty pack of crisps....

It has been learned that a large plastic wrapper from a crisp multi-pack caused a blockage and sent the deadly fumes into the living room where the family was watching television.

44leto · 29-12-2011 02:17PM

I am shocked at the simplicity of the cause of this tragedy.

All smoke alarms should be routinely fitted with carbon monoxide detectors. It would not be that expensive to impose this extra standard on the manufactures, besides people would be willing to pay the extra cost.

dubtom · 29-12-2011 02:27PM

Nodin wrote: »

Bit more than an empty pack of crisps....

What difference does it make if the wrapper was big or small,3 people died as a result of it FFS.

ItsAWindUp · 29-12-2011 02:30PM

Saila wrote: »

is this the one about the carbon monoxide?

edit: my sympathy left when I saw it was the huge bag the 10+ packets of crisps come in. what numpty puts one of those on a fire

asking for it :rolleyes:

Charming

Saila · 29-12-2011 02:31PM

dubtom wrote: »

What difference does it make if the wrapper was big or small,3 people died as a result of it FFS.

one of them is just a dumb thing to do, the other wins a darwin award with 2 other defenceless child victims

Mod: Poster banned.

sligono1 · 29-12-2011 02:31PM

Saila wrote: »

is this the one about the carbon monoxide?

edit: my sympathy left when I saw it was the huge bag the 10+ packets of crisps come in. what numpty puts one of those on a fire

asking for it :rolleyes:

here now what sort of comment is that three people are dead and a family that will never be the same.

isnt it easy for you to hide behind your keyboard and sling such pathetic comments,no your the numpty saila

Saila · 29-12-2011 02:33PM

ItsAWindUp wrote: »

Charming

doesnt change the fact he was asking for it though

Mod: Poster banned.

ItsAWindUp · 29-12-2011 02:33PM

Saila wrote: »

doesnt change the fact he was asking for it though

What a pathetic insensitive comment to make

Nodin · 29-12-2011 02:35PM

dubtom wrote: »

What difference does it make if the wrapper was big or small,3 people died as a result of it FFS.

...because the idea that a small piece of plastic can block a chimney and kill a family (a) causes needless panic and (b) isn't what happened.

msg11 · 29-12-2011 02:36PM

How did it block it ? Would it not have melted in the fire, I don't really understand to be honest?

ItsAWindUp · 29-12-2011 02:37PM

msg11 wrote: »

How did it block it ? Would it not have melted in the fire, I don't really understand to be honest?

Maybe the chimney was already partially blocked? It's a strange one all right

sligono1 · 29-12-2011 02:37PM

Saila wrote: »

doesnt change the fact he was asking for it though

sad sad person.

44leto · 29-12-2011 02:37PM

Saila wrote: »

is this the one about the carbon monoxide?

edit: my sympathy left when I saw it was the huge bag the 10+ packets of crisps come in. what numpty puts one of those on a fire

asking for it :rolleyes:

Who put the wrapper on the fire was it one of the children??

And most don't even know the dangers of CO

peasant · 29-12-2011 02:39PM

44leto wrote: »

All smoke alarms should be routinely fitted with carbon monoxide detectors. It would not be that expensive to impose this extra standard on the manufactures, besides people would be willing to pay the extra cost.

Bit tricky, that one.
Carbon monoxide is heavy (-er than normal air) and usually builds up in a pool on the floor, rising slowly ...whereas smoke detectors usually are on the ceiling because smoke rises.

EDIT
I've since learned that I was wrong.
Carbon monoxide is lighter than air ...it's CO2 that I was thinking of

Nodin · 29-12-2011 02:40PM

msg11 wrote: »

How did it block it ? Would it not have melted in the fire, I don't really understand to be honest?

If you put a piece of paper on the fire that isn't crumpled up, the heated air can catch it and blow it up the chimney. Presumably thats what happened here.

Saila · 29-12-2011 02:40PM

msg11 wrote: »

How did it block it ? Would it not have melted in the fire, I don't really understand to be honest?

with the wind lately it could easily have been suked up the chimney when they threw it on the fire and not had a chance to burn.

Plazaman · 29-12-2011 02:41PM

Saila wrote: »

one of them is just a dumb thing to do, the other wins a darwin award with 2 other defenceless child victims

What am I missing here. Nowhere in the article does it say Mr Wallwork put the package into the fire.

Regardless of if he did or not, 3 people have died and so a keyboard warrior ups and decides they deserved it ???

jcf · 29-12-2011 02:43PM

How the hell did this manage to block the fumes and redirect them to the living room ??

surely it would shrivel up and burn ?

or was it the fumes from the plastic itself that killed them ?

meemeep · 29-12-2011 02:46PM

taken from www.carbonmonoxide.ie:

The incomplete combustion of organic fossil fuels such as oil, gas or coal is a common environmental source of CO and is responsible for many cases of non-fatal unintentional CO poisoning.

In normal conditions the combustion process (the addition of oxygen) will result in carbon in the fossil fuel, combining with oxygen, in the air, to produce Carbon Dioxide (CO2), the same substance we exhale when we breathe.

However, if there is a lack of air for the combustion process or the heating appliance is faulty, Carbon Monoxide can be produced.

So if the chimney was blocked and no air was getting through - I guess it could happen. Freaky and very sad.

sunflower27 · 29-12-2011 02:48PM

There's always going to be someone that needs to get in with the crass comment.

I think all of us have done stupid things in our pasts that could have gone horribly wrong and thankfully didn't.

henryporter · 29-12-2011 02:49PM

Judging by some of the dumb questions so far, it's surprising tragedies like this aren't more prevalent. Fireplaces are for burning fuel, not rubbish. Regardless I have nothing but the utmost sympathy for the poor mother of the two children, nobody deserves to go through such pain.

peasant · 29-12-2011 02:50PM

jcf wrote: »

How the hell did this manage to block the fumes and redirect them to the living room ??

surely it would shrivel up and burn ?

or was it the fumes from the plastic itself that killed them ?

A semi-melted sheet of big plastic being sucked up the chimney and blocking the flue (which usually is rather small in diameter) seems possible.

The other problem then is the remains of the fire. The article talks about glowing embers. While these don't usually produce smoke anymore, they still burn a huge amount of oxygen (and produce huge amounts of CO and CO2) ...but due to the lack of smoke you wouldn't notice that the chimney is blocked as CO and CO2 are odourless.

M cebee · 29-12-2011 02:50PM

Saila wrote: »

dubtom wrote: »

What difference does it make if the wrapper was big or small,3 people died as a result of it FFS.

one of them is just a dumb thing to do, the other wins a darwin award with 2 other defenceless child victims

you deserve a darwin award for pathetic,insensitive comments if not trolling

prob one of kids threw it in fire anyway

Saila · 29-12-2011 02:55PM

Plazaman wrote: »

What am I missing here. Nowhere in the article does it say Mr Wallwork put the package into the fire.

Regardless of if he did or not, 3 people have died and so a keyboard warrior ups and decides they deserved it ???

eh no, I said or at least meant if a huge crisp packet gets put on a fire it is a dumb thing to do. period. if a child does it there are supervision issues. we will never know, all we can take from what has happened is it was a tragic accident and Im sorry to hear it like most.

the facts according to the article are this big crisp packet was put on after it was on its way out [this is what embers are] and blocked the chimney causing the build up of carbon monoxide gas which caused their suffocation and death.

RIP either way.

Overheal · 29-12-2011 02:59PM

Tragic but people do ridiculous things. I've lost people close to me who are gone more to their own mistakes than anyone else, as much as you'd like to blame others who were at fault in the second degree.

M cebee · 29-12-2011 03:01PM

Saila wrote: »

Plazaman wrote: »

What am I missing here. Nowhere in the article does it say Mr Wallwork put the package into the fire.

Regardless of if he did or not, 3 people have died and so a keyboard warrior ups and decides they deserved it ???

eh no, I said or at least meant if a huge crisp packet gets put on a fire it is a dumb thing to do. period. if a child does it there are supervision issues. we will never know, all we can take from what has happened is it was a tragic accident and Im sorry to hear it like most.

the facts according to the article are this big crisp packet was put on after it was on its way out [this is what embers are] and blocked the chimney causing the build up of carbon monoxide gas which caused their suffocation and death.

RIP either way.

you cant determine there are supervision issues here

leave it alone

Stiffler2 · 29-12-2011 03:03PM

Wow - that is bizarre.
I saw this on the news when it happened and assumed another murder, murder, suicide by the Dad.

I am truly shocked about this, not being bad but surely it has to be on the TV Show - 100 weirdest ways to die.

Was the crisp packet thrown on the fire and the fumes from the packet killed them or was the chimney blocked by the crisp packet and the smoke from the "normal" fire got them ??

Crisp wrapper blockage killed family

Comments