Darwen toddler almost loses finger in door accident

5:55pm Tuesday 13th May 2008

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A TWO-year-old girl almost lost a finger after getting trapped in a self-closing fire door at her home.

Heather Hill, 23, from Gifford Way, Darwen, watched in horror as two-year-old Ellie trapped the third finger on her right hand in the hinge at their three-storey town house.

The mother-of-three is now starting a petition calling for the special doors in homes on her newly built estate to be removed.

The incident happened on Saturday as Heather headed out of the house to Blackburn and Ellie followed her through the living room.

Heather said: "Ellie followed me through the living room door and had her fingers by the hinge when the door closed.

"She was screaming in agony and when me and her dad Mark got the door open, her finger tip was hanging on by a thread and there was blood all about.

"She had turned blue with shock, so I called for an ambulance immediately."

An X Ray at the Royal Blackburn Hospital revealed that Ellie hand broken a bone in her finger.

Heather added: "They said they couldn't tell me if they could save the finger. I just cried and cried.

"On Sunday night I got a phonecall from a doctor to say that Ellie couldn't wait for the fracture clinic and she needed to be operated on as soon as possible at the Royal Preston Hospital.

"The operation she had was successful but the finger will be deformed.

"To me it doesn't look like a finger and the specialist said that the nail will fall off and it the finger will be bent.

"She will have the whole hand in bandages for eight weeks and it's stopping her playing and eating properly."

Miss Hill is now setting up a petition to take all of the self-closing fire doors out of the houses on Gifford Way, built by Miller Homes.

She said: "There are a lot of parents with young children, and I would hate this to happen to somebody else.

"People need to know how bad these doors are and how much damage they can cause."

Miss Hill's landlord, Derek Mitchell, said: "It is my understanding that in three-storey townhouses, all internal doors need to be fitted with a self-closing mechanism.

"Miss Hill wanted me to take them off, but legally I cannot do that."

Coun Roy Davies who represents the Sudell ward said: "This raises concerns for other families who have small children."

A spokesman for the The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) confirmed that fire doors were a legal requirement in three-storey town houses and added: "This kind of accident has been a problem over the years, and is relatively common where special fire-proof doors have to be fitted by law.

"Children are inquisitive but there are devices available to buy to prevent the accident occuring."