TWO months after the fire on November 18, more than half of the 32 residents hospitalised with injuries ranging from burns to smoke inhalation, have died.
Nurse Roger Dean is charged with 10 counts of murder and four more deaths have been linked to the fire, but police won’t confirm if four other deaths were caused by the fire.
NSW Health confirmed on Monday that 18 patients from the fire had died and two were still in hospital.
While investigators compile their brief of evidence for Mr Dean’s next court appearance on February 8, pressure for all NSW homes to have sprinkler systems installed in all nursing homes is mounting.
Fire Brigade Employees Union Jim Casey said the state government should immediately retrofit all nursing homes to protect not only frail residents but his members called in to fight fires in nursing homes.
The federal Ageing Minister Mark Butler’s office confirmed that it had received a letter, which NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell had written in late December to then acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan asking for the federal government to fund a retrofit more than more than two third’s of the state’s 886 nursing homes which don’t have sprinklers.
Mr Casey also said modern furniture, especially in nursing homes, was more flammable than a generation ago, making sprinklers even more vital in mitigating fires.
“Firefighters take seriously when the community is in trouble they rely on us, but our lives are also at risk. Anything that improves the community’s safety improves firefighter safety,” he said.
“It should be the responsibility of the state government to immediately subside the retrofit.”
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