Post-booze fry-up costs man his life

Jody McGinnis. Photo / supplied

A "heavy-drinking and hard-working" shearer died in a house blaze after cooking up a feed of steak and chips after a big night out.

Jody McGinnis, 39, had returned to his Bleak House Rd home in Darfield, 40km west of Christchurch after getting "hammered" on a Saturday night out.

But after rustling up his late-night meal, he fell asleep with the cooking element on the stove "glowing red hot".

A fire was sparked by cooking oil and food left unattended on the stove top and it quickly engulfed his three-bedroom home.

A friend passed the rural property at about 4.45am to find it well ablaze.

He rushed inside to try and rescue his mate, but was beaten back by flames and smoke, and phoned emergency services.

The local Fire Service was on the scene within minutes but Mr McGinnis was found dead in his lounge.

They concluded that the accidental kitchen fire was sparked by a combination of heat radiation and direct flame.

Now, a coroner has concluded that Mr McGinnis had died from smoke inhalation and fumes, while his "ability to respond to a fire emergency" had been impaired by alcohol and cannabis.

Coroner Richard McElrea was told that on the evening of September 10, 2010 Mr McGinnis had been drinking and socialising with friends at a local hotel before going onto a house party.

A witness who had spoken to Mr McGinnis about 9pm described him as being "hammered" while the coroner was also told he had taken "a couple of spots" of cannabis during the evening.

He was last seen at about 3am by his long-term partner's son, Joshua Wood-Alfen, who was told Mr McGinnis was "off home to have a cook-up of steak and chips".

A post-mortem found he had been two and a half times the legal drink drive limit when the blaze broke out.

Mr McGinnis' partner told the coroner that the experienced shearer would normally would drink "six to 12 stubbies of beer every night" but would drink more on a night out.

She described him as being well-known as a heavy drinker, but added he would "always get up and be at work on time".

There was no evidence of a smoke alarm at the house, Mr McElrea concluded.