Here is a second motion that I submitted to the recent Full Council.
Southend Borough Council notes that:
Many of our tall buildings
are in excess of 10 floors, for example buildings on the Queensway
Estate are 17 floors. If there is a fire that blocks the stairwell above
level 10, residents have no "plan B" as an escape
route, the same circumstance that residents and fire rescue teams
encountered at Grenfell. According to Essex Fire & Rescue, of the 55
tall buildings in Southend, 11 are above 10 stories.
Under the STAY PUT POLICY,
residents are told that unless smoke or fire is entering their dwelling,
they should remain in their homes and await rescue.
The STAY PUT POLICY can fail,
and compartmentalisation can be compromised by retrofitting of
plumbing, electrical upgrades, installing insulation or adding inferior
products. Holes in walls that are not sealed with
fireproof sealant, pipe work with fire collars, allow the passage of
air, smoke and flames.
It has come to light that the STAY PUT POLICY at Grenfell failed and fire crews were surprised at the pace, the fire spread.
With single-staircase
buildings, if the only exit is blocked, there is no plan B to escape. At
Grenfell fire crews didn't have the equipment to reach the highest
parts of the building. In Southend, the fire brigade
has only ladders and platforms to reach level 10, so would need to call
in equipment from another part of the county. Cuts to funding for the
Fire Service has not only left it short of adequate equipment, but also
trained fire-fighters to operate them. Residents
awaiting rescue are told their homes are safe from fire for 30 minutes,
which isn't a long time. According to Essex Fire & Rescue, 2 tall
buildings in Southend have a Plan B for escape. Delays cost lives.
Warden operated fire alarms
also result in delays, when automated responses and human error is
considered, it adds to the risk factor. According to Essex Fire &
Rescue, the number of tall buildings with a monitored
alarm is 2.
Fire doors from five
different suppliers have now been withdrawn from sale, after being
identified by the government, as failing to meet safety standards.
The Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government has urged all housing providers to
carry out new risk assessments, as has the National Fire Chiefs Council.
Doors that under current building regulations, were
supposed to withstand smoke and flames for 30 minutes, were barely
lasting 15 minutes.
After the Lakanal House fire
the Coroner, recommended retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tall
buildings. The big issue with this is cost implications for landlords,
but the safety benefits are huge and it lessens
the need for the installation of automated alarms and gives residents
piece of mind. Concerns in Southend that landlords of buildings which
are earmarked for demolition,may be unwilling to spend large amounts in
the short-term, but in the long-term these landlords
have a duty of care over their residents and as such need to put the
safety or residents first.
After Grenfell, South Essex
Homes published a newsletter dated Summer 2017, in which residents were
reassured that fire risk assessments had been carried out on all tall
buildings.
Council notes that Fire Risk
Assessor qualifications can be obtained in a matter of days, without any
previous experience in the building or fire safety industry.
Only level 4 risk assessment
is carried out by a qualified accredited fire safety engineer, who will
open up the walls and check to see if the compartments, people's homes,
are not compromised. Without these checks
Southend Council cannot be confident it’s residents are safe.
Furthermore, although most of
the residential buildings in Southend have had risk assessments in the
last year, of the tall commercial buildings, of which there are 16 in
the borough, only South Essex College has carried
out this test.
This council therefore
supports a review of fire safety in all of its tall buildings, with a
level 4 risk assessment and commits to undertake installation of
mandatory automated fire alarms, with it’s partners South
Essex Homes, where gaps in alarm provision are identified, to remove the
warden element equation from fire safety risk.
This council believes that
the residents of these buildings should also be protected with sprinkler
systems and commits to write to the Secretary of State for the Home
Department to lobby central government for the
fire service to be provided with the resources needed to protect the
public, delivered through central or local government. Only then can
residents be confident in their fire safety protection.
I popped along to the Beecroft Art Gallery this evening to see a film on the 1956 Hungarian uprising. It was also an opportunity to network and try a few Hungarian cakes. (Cake is always welcome).
