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Hackney residents told to evacuate council block in case of fire
Residents of a council block in Hackney have been told to evacuate the building in the event of a fire, the council has said.
Hackney Council told residents in a letter that the existing stay put advice in place for the eight-storey Bridport House has been revoked and residents should now evacuate if there is a fire.
Firefighters’ standard advice for high-rise blocks is for landlords to tell residents to stay in their flats if there is a fire. However, this has come under increasing scrutiny since the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people in June 2017.
Hackney Council has installed five fire wardens to patrol the Bridport House building, which contains 41 social rented homes owned by the council, 24 hours a day and has offered alternative accommodation to anyone who doesn’t feel safe while the issue is investigated.
Engineers contacted by the council were carrying out repair works to the building when they raised concerns about its cavity wall insulation.
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The council is currently investigating to confirm exactly what type of insulation is on the side of the building and a Hackney Council source told Inside Housing that results are expected shortly.
Philip Glanville, mayor of Hackney, said: “The safety of our residents is our first priority. That’s why, as a temporary precaution, we have placed fire wardens in Bridport House to provide additional vigilance and security while we complete investigations into the insulation used in the construction of the building. We have also changed evacuation procedures accordingly.
“There is no immediate risk to tenants, but we will always take every possible step to ensure our tenants and their homes are safe. I visited the Colville Estate on Saturday alongside ward councillors, who were also there on Friday night. I will continue to work with residents over the next few weeks to ensure the council continues to respond appropriately.”
The government has told landlords of buildings with the same kind of cladding that was used on Grenfell to look again at whether it is appropriate advice.
According to evidence from Dr Barbara Lane, an expert witness to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the stay put policy on the night had “effectively failed” by 1.26am, 32 minutes after the first call to the fire brigade.
Firefighters, however, continued to tell residents to remain in their flats until 2.47am, at which point they started telling people to evacuate.
Before this, the staircase was “smoke logged”, according to Dr Lane, and witnesses have described “boiling hot” temperatures in the lobbies and stairwells between 1.59am and 2.58am.
