Warning after dressing gown fire death

Relatives of an elderly southern Hawke's Bay woman who died after her dressing gown caught fire on a gas heater are warning others to dispose of old flammable clothing.

Mona Grace Stewart, 92, from Dannevirke, was found dead with burns to most of her body outside her Waterloo Street home on June 24.

A coroner's report released yesterday found she had probably died after the dressing gown she was wearing caught fire while she was standing near or walking past a gas heater, which had been operating at full capacity.

She then opened her door and stepped outside, which exposed the fire to oxygen and probably increased its intensity, the coroner found.

Mrs Stewart had been wearing an old dressing gown made from a flammable synthetic fabric.

Her great-niece, Michelle Charlton, said her death had come as a "tremendous shock", The Dominion Post reported.

"If there is one thing that we can all learn from this, it is that we try to encourage our elderly loved ones to get rid of their old clothing and replace it with non-flammable materials which do not burn as easily as these old synthetic fabrics."

Fire safety warnings on children's nightwear were made compulsory in April after the 2007 death of a four-year-old boy, Corwin Bridge, and serious injuries to at least four others.

- NZPA