A YORK fire chief has called for lessons to be learned from a tragic house fire after an inquest heard that a string of mishaps helped the blaze spread through the property.

Popular peace activist Rubi Jean Robinson, 36, and her two-year-old daughter Sky Sunshine Robinson, both died of carbon monoxide poisoning after inhaling smoke when a fire broke out at their home in Kingsway West, Acomb, York, in the early hours of August 2 last year.

Miss Robinson's boyfriend, Leigh Keenleyside, of Roseberry Street, York, and her friend, Steven Panter, of Swann Street, York, were also injured in the blaze.

Trevor Lund, group manager for North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue told yesterday's inquest at New Earswick Folk Hall that the fire probably started in the front room and the likely cause was smoking related.

The inquest also heard that:

The smoke alarm was faulty or had no batteries

Upstairs windows in the house were locked shut and the keys were in the kitchen

Once opened, an adult was unable to fit through the windows

The front door was blocked shut

An open back door and front window provided an air stream to feed the flames.

The old-style settee, where the blaze probably started, would have ignited quickly and produced fumes.

Guests at the house had been smoking cannabis, drinking alcohol and some, including Miss Robinson, had taken ecstasy, possibly impairing their awareness.

Rubi was a central member of the York Peace Collective and lived for a month last year in the so-called Rainbow Peace Hotel in the former White Swan Hotel in Piccadilly, York.

Her sister-in-law, Sarah Robinson, while agreeing that lessons must be learned, said Rubi, also known as Andi, and Sky must not be overshadowed by the message.

She said: "Andi had so many friends, she helped everybody, and Sky was so full of beans.

"There are lessons to be learned, but we must remember in all this that we have lost two wonderful people." She said Miss Robinson's two other children live with their fathers.

Mr Lund said after the inquest: "It is vital that people have working fire alarms, that they do a bed-time check of the house and they plan their escape route in the event of a fire.

Coroner Donald Coverdale said there were a considerable number of factors that "combined to make this property an extraordinarily hazardous place once the fire had started."

He recorded two verdicts of accidental death.

Updated: 09:49 Thursday, September 09, 2004