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The interior of one of the Bucklebury tower flats hit by a fire last year |
FIRE SAFETY IS GOING UP IN FLAMES
‘Very poor condition’ of lifeline equipment for council homes
YEARS of neglect of basic fire safety measures have placed the lives of residents in Camden’s council homes at risk, a New Journal investigation has found.
Broken and disabled firefighting water pipes, fire extinguishers that have not been tested for years and poorly trained caretakers all require urgent action, according to a report by independent inspectors disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act.
The most wide-ranging review of housing safety ever undertaken in Camden – the findings of which would have remained under wraps without New Journal inquiries – has uncovered:
• Fire extinguishers left untested for years while inspectors simply re-wrote the “test due date” – described by the report as “not acceptable”.
• Dry-rising fire mains – the pipes firefighters use to combat high-rise blazes – “not serviced for many years” and in “very poor condition”.
• Untrained or poorly trained caretakers – who should be maintaining fire equipment – have “some incorrect and in some cases dangerous misconceptions”.
• A failure in the council’s duty of care by not fitting proper signs warning residents to keep clear of lifts during fires.
• Staircase windows, vital for smoke ventilation, were locked – and firefighters not given the keys
None of the housing blocks in Camden contains centralised smoke detection systems, alarms, emergency lighting or sprinklers. As these are not required by law, they were not mentioned in the report. Residents in a tower block where there is a blaze are advised to stay in their flats until firefighters arrive.
Fire Brigade Union (FBU) spokesman Paul Emery told the New Journal: “Neglect of dry risers is certainly putting people at risk. With high-rise fires the key is to get to work very quickly, which working dry risers allow. If you don’t have that facility you have to try to fight the fire from the ground. It is a lot more work and a lot more effort and slows us down.”
Yesterday (Wednesday) Liberal Democrat housing chief Councillor Chris Naylor acknowledged that the report, dated last November but only now disclosed, showed Camden housing stock fell significantly short of “modern fire safety standards”.
He said: “It is very clear we need to do more and I am going to make sure we not only meet current safety standards but work to surpass them.”
The neglect of health and safety had been inherited by his administration, which had responded by ordering a full review of standards across Camden and committing £4.5 million to improvements, he said.
But Cllr Naylor warned that, while immediate priorities were being addressed with the blessing of the fire brigade, “residents will appreciate that with some of the long-standing problems, like dry risers not being present in tall buildings because they were not built into them, it is going to take maybe years”.
Fire safety in Camden’s street properties is now being urgently reviewed, he added.
The findings come in a report by Mono Fire, whose 10 inspectors spent three months visiting 1,250 council properties last year after the council realised it had a legal obligation to check fire safety in its housing stock.
The review followed an exposé by the New Journal of how broken and missing fire doors had endangered residents in Bucklebury, a tower block in Stanhope Street, Regent’s Park, during a fire last June.
Residents were led to safety by firefighters after smoke filled both of the 17-storey block’s escape stairwells. Broken doors had been repeatedly reported but no action taken by the housing department.
Camden fire brigade considered enforcement action against the council but instead waited for the findings of the Mono Fire review.
Last October, when the Town Hall first refused to release the findings of the review, a press official said: “We are still discussing our response to the issues arising out of this incident and associated enforcement action with London Fire Brigade. We will review this decision as our discussions with LFB proceed.“
Mono Fire’s report was disclosed after long delays while the council’s lawyers considered whether it could be withheld for “public interest” reasons.
Hundreds of emails and individual inspection reports have still been withheld under a clause in the Freedom of Information Act which caps the cost of dealing with requests.
The New Journal put a detailed list of questions to the council on Friday.
A press official responded: “Residents should be reassured that Camden have taken a comprehensive approach to this issue by covering all buildings, and the risk assessments have been carried out by a competent company which is independent of the London Borough of Camden.
“Issues raised as they carried out assessments were prioritised from one to three, with all the priority one work being completed immediately, and indeed the company praised Camden for the speed in completing these works.
“In accordance with guidelines agreed with the London Fire Brigade, the few priority two and three works identified are all included in a programme of work, and these are on schedule to be completed by September this year. These works include some additional signage, and minor repairs.” |
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