A “MUCH-LOVED” mother and grandmother died after an accidental fire took hold in the kitchen of her Shipley home, an inquest was told.

Christine Dryden, 63, died on April 23 of brain and lung injuries caused by the “inhalation of fire gases”, three days after the blaze at her bungalow home in Prospect Street.

Bradford Coroner’s Court heard that at 2.29am on the morning of the incident, a heat detector or smoke alarm had activated in the Incommunities property, prompting a conversation between Mrs Dryden and Bradford Council’s Safe and Sound Service.

She said she was cooking and when repeatedly asked whether there was a fire and she needed help, she replied she was “okay”, and that it was “just a bit of smoke.” An alarm was next activated at 5.44am, but the intercom system failed, leading to a call being made to the fire service who said they were already en route to the property.

Carl Atkey, from Apello, the company responsible for servicing the alarms, said the fire had caused the heat detector in the kitchen to “catastrophically fail”, leading to the subsequent failure of the interlink system.

Fire investigation officer Ian Firth said Mrs Dryden had been found unconscious in a chair in her living room. He said two rings had been found left in the on position on an electric cooker in the kitchen, including one with a metal griddle plate and deep fat fryer on top.

“The ring had been on under that griddle plate for some time, I would suggest hours,” he said, adding that the heat caused by the smoke and fire had “completely destroyed” the heat detector on the kitchen ceiling.

He said the alarm had gone off again at 5.44am either due to smoke being moved by would-be rescuers trying to get to Mrs Dryden’s aid, or by the system re-triggering due to abnormal electrical activity.

Asked for his conclusions, he said: “It is likely that Christine initiated the fire by turning on the wrong cooker control.”

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Coroner Martin Fleming said he would write to Incommunities to see whether a more proactive approach in checking alarms more regularly might be considered. 

“In her confusion, Christine told the call operator she was okay, and support services had no immediate cause to think otherwise," he said.

"The tragedy here is that unknown to Christine, she had not put out the fire.”

Victoria Dryden, Mrs Dryden’s daughter, said of her mother: “She was an amazing person with love in buckets for everyone. We miss her so much.”