Residents' concern after evacuation at Derry apartment complex
Residents of an apartment complex in Derry were evacuated after a carbon monoxide alarm was triggered in the premises.
The incident happened at Conar’s Court last Tuesday morning when residents were forced to flee from the building at 6.55am after the alarm was set off.
A total of four fire appliances attended the scene at Crawford Square.
Firefighters donned breathing apparatus and entered the building with gas monitor.
The residents were allowed to return to the homes at 8.50am after gas monitor recorded a reading of zero.
However, the Derry News has been contacted by a number of residents living at Conar’s Court who have expressed concerns that their health is being affected by gas levels at the apartment block, which they blame on faulty boilers.
They have now called on Habinteg, the housing association which owns the bulk of the apartments at the building, to urgently address the situation.
One resident, Jacqueline Cassidy, who provides care for her terminally ill husband John at her home, said many of the people living there were worried that the situation with the boilers was not being addressed.
“We moved in here in May, and since then a lot of us have been suffering from headaches and dizziness,” she said.
“We think that it’s down a faulty flue which is affecting out boilers, and that’s why the gas is leaking out.
“Our gas has now been off since Tuesday and an engineer from a gas company has been out with me, but he was very reluctant to do anything with the boiler until Habinteg do something about it.”
She added: “We all have carbon monoxide monitors fitted at the flat, but it doesn’t give me much comfort knowing that there’s a faulty boiler.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to complains of the same thing – being nauseous and having headaches, and while I love it and don’t want to move, I just don’t feel safe here.”
Meanwhile, another resident, Kim Keddy, said: “There’s a lot of people living here who often feel tired and experience sore heads, and I believe it’s down to the gas getting out because of the faulty flue for the boilers.
“It really needs to be sorted out so we can feel safe, and I wish Habinteg would listen to us about it.”
Kim Ufton, another resident, said: “The funny thing is, the gas has been off since Tuesday, and I’ve never felt better since I moved in here. No headaches, no dizziness, so that tells me that when the gas is on, then it’s escaping out of somewhere it shouldn’t be.”
A spokesperson for Habinteg told the Derry News said that they would now carry out further checks at the building.
“Following an alarm and gas turn-off at Conar’s Court, engineers carried out inspections of apartments, including detector checks, and found no evidence of Carbon Monoxide or gas inside the properties,” the spokesperson said.
“To further allay any concerns, thorough checks will be undertaken at all apartments and work will be carried out to allow a full inspection of the building’s communal flue.”