TENANTS living in the Lord Street flats in Douglas, Isle of Man, have been urged not to wedge open or tamper with fire doors following a fire earlier this week. Douglas Borough Council has issued the warning after four people were taken to hospital following a fire in flat 55 of the Murray's House block at around 11pm on Tuesday.

Following the blaze the council's acting housing manager and a community liaison officer from the Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service visited the Lord Street flats to reassure tenants and review their fire prevention measures. In more than half of the properties they gained access to they found that the tenants had wedged open their fire doors or disabled the self-closing mechanisms on the internal doors.

As a result tenants have now been reminded that these doors are there to contain fire and stop the spread of it not only to other rooms but also to adjacent properties.

"In partnership with the fire service the council is rigorous in making statutory fire prevention checks to all its properties. In support of this we would ask tenants to be vigilant about their domestic fire precaution measures and urge those in flats and apartments - for their and their neighbours' safety – not to disable the self-closing mechanisms on their internal doors."

The cause of the fire on Tuesday is still being investigated.