Coronial
NSWcommunity

Inquest into the death of John FLAMISH

Deceased

John Flamish

Demographics

65y, male

Date of death

2017-06-05

Finding date

2020-12-11

Cause of death

combined effects of smoke inhalation, burns and ischaemic heart disease

AI-generated summary

John Flamish, 65, died on 5 June 2017 from smoke inhalation, burns and ischaemic heart disease following a deliberately lit fire in the carpark of public housing at 22-24 Early Street, Parramatta. The fire was set in a parked Mercedes belonging to resident Sidholm Nakhla. A significant contributing factor was that the fire door separating the carpark from the residential stairwell was propped open with a brick, allowing smoke to ventilate into the building. This practice had been ongoing for years prior to the fire. The coroner found smoke entered the stairwell, trapped residents upstairs including Ms Ludkin and Mr Toufan who had to be evacuated by ladder. The specific actions that could have prevented this tragedy include: proper closure and monitoring of the fire door, resident education about fire safety, and agency oversight of fire safety measures in public housing. While the person(s) responsible for the arson remain unknown despite extensive police investigation, the preventability centres on the maintenance of critical fire safety infrastructure.

AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.

Contributing factors

  • fire door propped open with brick allowing smoke to ventilate into residential stairwell
  • practice of propping fire doors open was ongoing at the unit complex
  • lack of fire sprinklers in carpark
  • inadequate supervision and enforcement of fire safety measures by housing authorities
  • deceased's vulnerability to smoke inhalation due to ischaemic heart disease and prior bypass grafts
  • poor visibility in smoke-filled carpark and stairwell

Coroner's recommendations

  1. Commissioner of Police to consider making a reward for information regarding the fire
Full text

Related cases

Source and disclaimer

This page reproduces or summarises information from publicly available findings published by Australian coroners' courts. Coronial is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any coronial court or government body.

Content may be incomplete, reformatted, or summarised. All court orders for redaction and non-publication are respected; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. Always refer to the original court publication for the authoritative record.

Copyright in original materials remains with the relevant government jurisdiction. AI-generated summaries and tagging are for educational purposes only, may contain inaccuracies, and must not be treated as legal documents. We welcome feedback for correction —