Sir Ken Knight reports on initial findings of Lakanal House blaze investigations
Fire chief: make alarms compulsory
The government should consider making all social landlords fit battery-operated smoke detectors in each of their high-rise homes, England’s chief fire officer has warned.
Sir Ken Knight made the suggestion in a report commissioned by communities secretary John Denham after a fire in Lakanal House, Camberwell. The blaze killed six people, including three children, on 3 July this year.
The fire in the 14-storey Southwark Council building blazed for more than an hour, spreading from a flat on the ninth floor. The people who died were all on the 11th floor.
Sir Ken’s report also suggests the government should look at commissioning a review of safety information available for tenants and residents of high-rise blocks.
It adds that ‘it is apparent that the fire safety advice to occupants in some high-rise residential buildings is not consistent’.
Sir Ken’s report looked at initial findings from the police and fire brigade investigations into the Lakanal House fire. He will now continue to follow the investigations before potentially making firmer recommendations.
Camberwell councillor Ian Wingfield said: ‘Local councils have been doing the bare minimum. This report has identified a number of issues the council, as a responsible landlord, has got to take [on board].’
Trish O’Flynn, senior policy consultant at the Local Government Association, said: ‘People will be looking at what they’ve got and how they can improve it, and making changes where necessary.’
Neither the Communities and Local Government department, National Housing Federation, Chartered Institute of Housing, or LGA know how many social homes already contain smoke alarms or how much it would cost to make sure they all did.
And Michael Gelling, chair of Tenants’ and Residents’ Organisations of England, said residents also needed to take more responsibility for working out what to do in the event of a fire.
‘To put everything the way we would want it there would have to be a bottomless pit of money,’ he said.
Mr Denham also revealed this week that he had agreed to a request from Camberwell MP Harriet Harman for a ‘super-inquest’, which would see each of the six inquests into the deaths be held at the same time.
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Readers' comments (3)
Gel | 14/08/2009 1:27 pm
Surely Fire Brigade initiatives over recent years eg Prescott 's recent £25m
smoke alarm largesse, has ensured vast majority of dwellings now have battery alarms installed. And Community Fire Safety Dept's are continuing despite lack of central funding anymore; initially it was restricted to those seen most at risk, but in most areas anyone can ring their local Brigade & get a free home safety check....and free alarm/s if needed.
Downside of battery alarms is that they can get taken down/disposed of.
Hard Wired is what most Social Housing providers have as standard requirement now, and hope this won't be seen as a cheaper option.
Recall LFB had indicated that alarms were working when they arrived on scene.
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Jim Paton | 14/08/2009 5:20 pm
What this ignores is that the current types of alarms are simply inconsistent with some people's lives. The cooking methods of many Vietnamese people, for example, trigger smoke alarms every time, so they get disabled. Neither will they tolerate the incense I burn at home (real incense on charcoal, not joss sticks). More work needs to be done on smoke alarms to make sure they are compatible with everyone's lives and are activated only when there really is a fire.
This is an issue on which, I'm afraid, official fingers are in ears and all concerns are dismissed.
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David | 21/04/2010 1:32 pm
Tenants are sometimes their own worst enemies, when Brent fitted battery smokes in all of their properties a year later less than 90% were in working order, batteries had been removed.
We have properties where fire alarm systems are regularly vandalised and it is almost impossible to keep them in service.
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