George Blakeson was a fire inspection officer who conducted investigations into three conflagrations in and around vicinity of Coronation Street.
The first was in March 2013 when a major fire erupted at the Rovers resulting in the death of firefighter Toni Griffiths. George looked over the remains and, although he wasn't supposed to discuss or speculate on the matter, he told colleague Paul Kershaw that the fire started in the cellar and was probably electrical. As Jason Grimshaw had been doing work down there, the finger of suspicion pointed at him though Karl Munro later confessed to beginning the blaze deliberately in an effort to get back at his ex-partner Stella Price, the landlady of the pub.
The second fire, in May 2015 was started by Tracy Barlow in 12 Victoria Court, the home of Carla Connor. Although Tracy had malicious intentions towards Carla, the fire was started accidentally when she left a lit candle underneath a lampshade and it caught. Kal Nazir died saving Carla and Amy Barlow from the blaze. George's inspection correctly ascertained that a candle was to blame and he told Carla that a full report would follow. As no one knew of Tracy's presence in the flat before the fire, it was Carla who took the brunt of the blame for the tragedy.
The third, in August 2021, was deliberately started by ten year-old Hope Stape in 2a Coronation Street. Her life had been torn apart when Tyrone Dobbs had begun an affair with "younger model" Alina Pop and moved out of 9 Coronation Street where he was the partner of Fiz Stape and his own daughter Ruby Dobbs. When Alina fell pregnant, Hope was initially excited but then became jealous that she was being squeezed out of Tyrone's affections, especially when she overheard his delight at the news that the forthcoming baby was a boy. Using a stolen set of keys and some nail varnish remover, she began a blaze using a scented candle to destroy the baby's new cot, not knowing that Alina was asleep in the bedroom. Eileen Grimshaw and Sally Metcalfe spotted the smoke and raised the alarm to summon the emergency services. Taken to hospital, Alina subsequently suffered a miscarriage. After completing his inspection, George praised Tyrone for having a smoke alarm and gave him tips of getting rid of the smell of the fire. He also gave him a guarded first conclusion that the fire had been started by the candle, telling him that they were the main cause of such house conflagrations nowadays.
List of appearances[]
2013
2015
2021