Fire Sector Summit 2019 NEWS


his FRS and political experiences having joined London Fire Brigade in 1974. He noted that he ‘would never have been able to develop into the man I am now’ without them. ‘Huge changes’ include ‘much better’ firefighter life expectancy, ‘improved’ standards of health and fitness and better legislation, alongside the ‘sea change’ heralded by breathing apparatus and the FRS’s ‘changing landscapes and roles’. Following his election as MP for


construction processes, and ‘golden thread’ design inputs are included.


Resilience and safety FPA technical director Dr Jim Glockling and fire and security consultant Stewart Kidd explored resilience in this workshop, speaking about components, drivers and challenges, Dr Glockling noted that in our ‘imperfect world’, resilience is ‘always the last to be invited to the party’. It needs to be viewed as a toolkit like fire engineering, and can help ‘against all perils’ via the simple model of susceptibility, vulnerability and recoverability. The mantra should be


‘prevent, predict and reduce’, via compartmentation, alarms and sprinklers. Factors include materials, voids, fire spread and ingress, poor compartmentation and ‘unachievable’ design detailing. Evacuation before collapse is a success for the government ‘but not for those affected’, and businesses should provide input to avoid disruption, financial and psychological costs. Regulations don’t cover business or property protection, and need to ‘draw a distinction’ between fire and value engineering – 80% of businesses hit by a major fire close within 18 months. Mr Kidd said that ‘we need to


make sure we don’t just survive, but keep building’, pointing out that the average cost of property fires doubled in the last ten years. ‘Who is


to blame?’, he asked, and ‘ultimately’ focused on the government, which made property protection ‘an individual’s responsibility’. Under current regulations, a building is safe if people ‘can escape without injury’, but there are ‘wider impacts’ including psychological trauma, leading Mr Kidd to ask if recent fires were ‘successes or failures’.


Thought leadership This workshop witnessed ‘passionate debate’ due to ‘a lot of different agendas’, John Bonney said, reporting ‘frustration at the inability of the sector to move forward’. People were ‘energised and passionate moving forward’, and hopefully things could ‘get done’. A definition agreed was ‘moving and inspiring people across the whole spectrum’ with the ‘process of management’, thought leadership having a ‘lot of moving parts’ and covering keeping people ‘safe and well’. An ‘intensely siloed sector’ makes


people ‘look outside their remit to solve problems – how many tragedies will it take before we’re motivated to make a change?’ Looking at sectors that ‘institutionalise failures to learn from them’ might help, and ‘more ambition to see what we can contribute’.


Jim Fitzpatrick Labour MP and former Fire Minister Jim Fitzpatrick addressed delegates on the day he retired, exploring


Poplar and Limehouse, while in government he set up the All Party Parliamentary Group for Fire, which has a ‘good profile and support across the parties’, and ‘leads the charge’ in trying to amend ADB. While Fire Minister from 2005 to 2006, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 was put into law, which he called a ‘game changer’. For him, the government is ‘not


keeping up and has to do much more to keep abreast’ of challenges posed by fire. He had the ‘greatest of respect’ for the sector, and added ,‘if we can work together, we can make the country a safer place’.


Closing comments Reflecting on the valuable insights and discussions of the day, FPA chairman John Smeaton remarked that in theory a block of flats could be built today with the same regulations as before the Grenfell fire. Yet modern buildings react differently in fire to traditional ones, and sadly, ‘our building monitoring skills don’t match our passion for innovation’. Many fire risks are invisible, the


toxicity of buildings under fire has long been neglected and regulations need to reflect fire ingress and change with time. He supported the general direction of the inquiry report summary’s comments on competency, but said ‘the jury’s still out on delivery within timescale’. He saw ‘a lot of weak words’ in


the recommendations (eg the word ‘should’ needs replacing with ‘must’), and we must prioritise them, ‘as early change will deliver early results’, as well as defining ‘what is acceptable evidence as a deliverable to get the change we require.’


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