Neil Barre

Mr A. Haigh 
Senior Coroner Staffordshire South 
Coroner’s Office 
1 Staffordshire Place 
Stafford ST16 2LP 

Dear Mr Haigh 

Please reply to:  

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service,  
Headquarters  
Pirehill, Stone  
Staffordshire  ST15 0BS  

Telephone: 
Email:  

Date: 8th Feburary 2021 

Regulation 28 Report – Neil-Barre-2020-0237, Sylvia-Griffiths-2020-0238 

In response to your letter received on the 17th November 2021 outlining your findings following the 
inquest in to the death of Neil Barre, and the inquest into the death of Sylvia Griffiths, I would like to 
provide an overview of the work Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service is undertaking in response to 
your concerns raised in the Regulation 28 reports. 

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service will be conducting a fatal fire review of the case. This will 
involve your findings from the Coroner’s inquest along with a review of partnership and prevention 
activity the fire and rescue service conducts in cases such as this. 

The fatal fire review will involve Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service along with key partner 
agencies and will aim to capture any multi agency learning from this tragic event. Following which 
the identified learning will be used to review our prevention and partnership activity in order to 
ensure the potential for further deaths of this nature are prevented. 

The learning will also be shared with other fire and rescue services nationally through our national 
prevent networks also aimed at raising awareness of cases such as this and to share best practice to 
ensure prevention activity meet the needs of our communities. 

Due to current COVID 19 restrictions the fatal fire review will be taking place virtually W/C 22 
February 2021 all actions and learning will be recorded. Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service will 
ensure a record of the learning is shared through the Coroner’s office for your awareness by the 1st 
March 2021. It is proposed the learning will also be shared with local partner agencies along with fire 
and rescue services nationally on the above date. 

Due to the tragic nature of these events we are keen as a service to ensure we take every step in 
preventing future fire deaths by working closely with partner agencies and consistently reviewing our 
approach to prevention activities. By doing this we try to ensure our most vulnerable members of the 

 Chief Fire Officer 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
 
 community are identified and protected at the earliest opportunity using equipment and technology 
available providing a safer environment to live.  

Additionally – Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service run a scheme called ‘Olive Branch’. This scheme 
provides training to people who are in contact with, or visit vulnerable members of communities 
within Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. It encourages them to identify potential fire hazards and 
other risks in the home. In addition it highlights how to refer vulnerable people onto Staffordshire 
Fire and Rescue Service for Safe and Well advice. 

Olive Branch was launched in February 2011 after a report by the coroner investigating the death of 
, and has since been adopted by other local authorities and Fire Services.  The primary 
aim of the Olive Branch Programme is to reduce the number of accidental dwelling fires, fire-related 
deaths and injuries across Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent. 

The training is free and we will deliver to groups of any number at either their premises or at venues 
supplied by us across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. We aim to train all persons involved with 
caring for the elderly, disabled and vulnerable on a daily basis in how to identify hazards and to 
understand how to deal with these risks and to refer them on to the appropriate organisation. Each 
session lasts minimum of 1.5 hours and each delegate receives a certificate of attendance. 

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service work closely with partner agencies and Olive Branch training 
has recently been redeveloped to accommodate our ever changing community needs. The findings 
from the investigation into the death of Sylvia Griffiths and Neil Barre will be fed into these training 
sessions, particularly the availability and use of fire/smoke alarms that are designed for people 
suffering with dementia. These training sessions will also be used to improve communication with 
groups who provide domiciliary and reinforce feedback regarding people who may not be using the 
special equipment provided to them.     

Thank you for raising your concerns and providing us with the findings from your inquest, as a sector 
we will make every effort to learn from this tragic event in order to prevent further potential deaths 
and injuries. 

Yours sincerely 

Howard Watts 
Director of Prevent & Protect