For Public good, Important or not?

A coronial verdict is announced for the tragic and traumatic ending of the life of a Marlborough Personality, Margaret Gould nee Hebberd.
This rather special lady perished in hospital following being seriously burned in her home at Renwick west of Blenheim when a neighbour hearing smoke alarms, investigating discovered the 93 year old slumped in her kitchen on fire.

She had apparently been attending to her coal range, indicated by the firebox door being open?

The published verdict from the Coroner warns about older persons living alone?
Well Mr Coroner that is a well established lifestyle choice for many citizens, self included. I am left wondering if the terrible ignition of that poor ladies clothing may well have been primarily caused by the fabric content of her clothing on that tragic day. Modern day clothing, curtains, floor coverings, furniture, in fact almost all that is in a home today is frighteningly flammable. Death is much increased not from heat and burning but from toxic gasses in the smoke.

While those choosing independence and freedoms for personal choice, the dangers are often well understood and accepted in rational and logical processing of those dangers.
Where I vehemently depart from the pontificating on the dangers of living alone is to highlight the extreme dangers from the Modern lifestyle so many of which are fire accidents just waiting to become life threatening. The deceased, 90 something was not so modern however in having a “Coal Range” so the speculation of what actually led up to her exposure to the eventually lethal burns and afaik un commented on by the Coroner was the clothing exposed to the open foire box of her coal range that may have added to the eventual outcome

Fire ignition is poorly understood by too many. We lost a house 20 Kms distant from nearest Fire Station c1990 in a total loss incident. The next Morning we met with the fire investigators on the lawn beside the still smouldering ruin and the cause was fully understood within moments of the investigation starting.

A stark image of a log fire box standing under the internal brick chimney in a fire place was all the evidence needed.

On installation some ten years earlier the “Craftsman”, (advisedly), contracted to install the Log Fire had made connecting the crox nuts involved in connecting the wet back within the Log fire to the existing adjacent water cylinder easier, had cut and peeled back the outer skin of the Log fire and not reinstated the integrity of the unit leaving the inner fire box exposed to timbers of the 80 year old house a mere estimated 400 mm distant.
We were asked if we had ever been aware of smouldering/ scorching smells any time over the previous ten years and promptly replied yes and had immediately reduced the controls to reduce the fire. The assessor then floored us somewhat when he suggested they were the occasions the ignition had not reached fire point. He then went on to explain his understanding, dry Totara wood, such as the framing of the old house, can begin to smoulder at around mid 60s Centigrade, and to illustrate that, he suggested similar to the heat of a car bonnet in summer sunlight on a calm day that when touched gives a very clear signal to remove contact.

There is considerable support for those able to live independently safely and it is demonstrably lower cost to Government over alternatives, so perhaps instead of declaring on danger of that lifestyle choice perhaps some espousing the dangers of modern furniture, clothing and soft furnishings may have been of more value educationally and of greater assistance to those choosing not to join the herd in the retirement archipelago.