NEWS
Fire Sector Summit 2019 Industry confers at Fire Sector Summit 2019
OPENING THIS year’s London event in November, the FPA’s managing director Jonathan O’Neill remarked that the recommendations in the recent Grenfell Tower public inquiry first phase report were ‘much in line with expectations’, but added that the observations on fire and rescue service (FRS) management failures had ‘caused the greatest stir’. Nonetheless, the FRS should see them not as an attack but an opportunity to show it listens and learns, recognise changing risk profiles and ‘demand the resources to sort this out’.
He called on those in power
to review building regulations; mandate third party certification; ban single staircase escapes in tall buildings; install sprinklers and high integrity detection and evacuation measures; and ban combustible materials in every high risk occupancy. ‘This isn’t rocket science, so get on with it immediately please,’ he urged.
State of fire Phil Loach of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) reported that the Hackitt review and first phase report had ‘sent shockwaves through the sector’. The latter stressed the need to transform, and the NFCC could help with improving risk management, protection, prevention and emergency response. Also, NFCC is reviewing its 2017- 2020 commitments in finance, governance, workforce, community risk assessment and digital solutions, ‘to bring consistency… whilst recognising and enabling the need for localism’. Its work is carried out via a committee structure, delivering integrated programmes which are shaped by a technical working group and key stakeholders. While spotlighting NFCC’s fire
safety work through enforcement, risk based high rise inspection, public reassurance and advice, Mr Loach emphasised how financial reviews affect fire sector priorities and ‘layers of prevention and protection’. For instance, integrated risk management plans are sometimes
made to fit the funding available – he recommended clearer terms of reference – while impact assessments can lack sufficient public engagement. Future plans include extending
the Digital and Data Programme to cover its other (People, and Community Risk) programmes and promote consistency, he explained, and further partnership working will help to influence wider engagement, approach and delivery.
Beechmere fire Mark Cashin, chief fire officer of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS), discussed the ‘large loss’ fire in Crewe this summer. The H shaped building had a large open central atrium, small independent living apartments and shared facilities, and was called a ‘care home on the cheap’ by a local MP. While internally ‘very high specification’, it was a sustainable ‘quick build’. Stay put was quickly suspended
by the CFRS officer in charge, ‘a good idea in the end’, because the fire started outside and entered the building, beginning on the roof where hot works were taking place – contractors tried to fight it for half an hour. It went through a protected staircase and dry riser ‘in less than an hour’, with compartmentation failing and ‘sudden and total collapse’ of the roof occurring within four hours. The fire originated on the right wing, but spread to the left when the
16 DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020
www.frmjournal.com
roof failed, air vents pumping out flames. Spread speed was ‘almost explosive’, and resources ‘made very little difference in stopping the escalation’. Firefighters were quickly surrounded and pulled out, lower floors being unusually hotter than above. Eight hours in, the structure was still intact, but another ‘explosive’ spread saw fire present at all levels, with the structure lost 15 hours in. CFRS ‘felt like we were chasing
our own tails’, and were ‘frustrated that the building got away from us’ as it was ‘almost impossible to fight’. Investigations are looking at the construction’s effect on fire spread, with ‘lots of data to find’ that might help to understand why it ‘did not perform as expected’. If the fire had taken place in winter, ‘many may have died’. It was key to ‘keep the conversation going’ about ‘significant risks and unusual hazards’ posed.
Smoke and toxicity Ash and Lacy’s Dr Jonathan Evans, from the ‘more sensible end of the cladding industry’, shared views from within the metal cladding and roofing manufacturers association (MCRMA). Grenfell’s first phase report squarely
points to the ‘principal reason’ for fire spread as the tower’s ACM cladding, highlighting that external walls failed to comply with Approved Document B (ADB) Section B4, and smoke hindered rescue and escape efforts.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
