A 76-year-old great gran died in a fire at her home after a heater set fire to cash which she stored in a bed.

The tragedy also highlighted the problems of on-call firefighters responding to incidents in Cornwall after the family of Averil Stringer had voiced concerns around delays in fire crews arriving at the scene of the blaze in the middle of the night.

A Truro inquest heard at the time of the call the Penzance Community Fire Station, which was just half a mile from the incident at Bosvenna Way, Heamoor, did not have enough qualified crew to allow a safe on-call response.

This was because an on-call member of the team had booked off at 3am to attend their main job. It meant that crews St Just and St Ives were called out when the alarm was raised by a neighbour at 4.39 am on June 19, 2023.

The St Just tender arrived at the blaze 17 minutes and 45 seconds after the 999 call was made by a neighbour who saw white smoke billowing from the back of the victim's bungalow.

The neighbour was not able to enter the property or rouse Averil who was found by firefighters slumped on her bed in her smoke logged home.

The crews removed Averil from the bungalow and tried to save her but she died from smoke inhalation.

She was found on her bed in a front bedroom next to the rear bedroom where the blaze started. Fire investigator Glen Beale believes a tube heater fixed beneath a bed was the cause of the fire which spread deadly gas fumes through the house. It set light to cash and linen under the bed.

Cornwall Fire and Rescue group manager Steven Swann said full time crews reach incidents within eleven minutes, and on-call crews in 16 minutes, and he said 29 of the county's 32 stations are crewed by on-call firefighters between 7pm and 7am.

He told the inquest that the cost of housing is impacting the number of on call firefighters available to live within six minutes of stations.

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Averil's family praised the fire crews for 'risking their lives' to try and save her saying they went 'beyond the call of duty and were humbled by their bravery'.

Coroner Guy Davies recorded an accidental death conclusion and said the delay in the arrival of the fire crews had not contributed to her death.

He said:"The absence of the Penzance crew made no difference to the outcome. Averil died sometime before the attendance of the fire crews."

He said the Penzance crew might have arrived at the scene three or four minutes earlier but said she would have been rapidly overcome by the smoke before the crews arrived.

He said the source of the fire was probably a portable heater lodged up against a bed and mattress, and fuelled by linen and cash notes that were stored there.

He said the neighbour witnessed smoke coming from the bungalow 17 minutes before the first fire crews arrived.

Fire chief Steve Swan told the Truro inquest:"Our response times are challenging. I would not be naive to say this scenario could not happen again."