A 16-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who uses a wheelchair has described being “petrified” at being left on his own in an upstairs room when a fire broke out in his school.
Lucas, of Tameside, Greater Manchester, said the experience in November inspired him to launch #NoStudentLeftBehind campaign to improve fire safety for disabled students and make evacuation chairs compulsory in schools.
He said he wants to ensure all students, regardless of their physical ability, have the right to have safe evacuation procedures.
Hyde High School head teacher Georgina Arnold said while the school followed current legislation she wanted to “learn a lesson” from what happened as she wants “all our children to feel safe”.
The small electrical fire was quickly extinguished and no one was hurt but Lucas said he was scared as did not know the extent of the fire.
“I was told I had to stay upstairs by myself,” he said.
“Then I smelled the smoke. I was getting ready to get out of my chair and crawl down the stairs. I was petrified.”
He then looked at legislation and said he was “appalled to find out that every school doesn’t need to have an evacuation chair”.
His school said in a statement following the personal emergency evacuation plan “the safest course of action was deemed to hold Lucas in the refuge area”.
“This area is protected from fire and smoke, providing enough time for the safest evacuation decision to be made in liaison with the fire service.”
Ms Arnold, who came into the role following the fire, said: “Although Lucas was completely safe, the way he felt in that situation is not how I want my students to feel.
“I think the whole country needs to learn a lesson from this.
“Even if they are safe in terms of current legislation it doesn’t mean they feel safe.”
While Lucas stresses his school did nothing wrong, it has made him determined to improve fire safety for disabled students.
“All students, regardless of their physical ability, have the right to safe evacuation procedures,” he said.
More than 30,000 people have signed his petition for every school and college to be obliged to have an evacuation chair and training.
Lucas has joined forces with the Emergency Group, a collective of emergency response companies dedicated to providing life-saving emergency equipment including evacuation chairs and defibrillators.
The group donated four evacuation chairs to his school “to ensure this never happens again” and it is supporting his campaign for safer and more accessible schools and have made him an ambassador.
Between them, they are calling for policy changes to ensure all schools have evacuation chairs for disabled students and proper emergency evacuation training.
Lucas added: “Because I am in a wheelchair why should I be left behind?”
