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Questions over ‘stay put’ advice at Wales fire safety inquiry
Welsh sector leaders have called for clarity over the “stay put” advice given to tenants in the event of fires at a public inquiry into fire safety.
The Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee held a one-day inquiry into fire safety at the Welsh Assembly on Thursday.
During the six-and-a-half-hour session, Stuart Millington, senior fire safety manager at North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: “In North Wales recently we’ve changed the terminology in relation to stay put, to call it ‘safe to stay’ to maybe move away from people thinking that they have to stay put.”
He maintained that “the circumstances around ‘stay put’ are sound” as long as measures to prevent the spread of fire in buildings were in place.
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Later in the session Stuart Ropke, chief executive of Community Housing Cymru, said: “One of the things that consistently gets reported to us as the trade body is the lack of consistency on occasion and the advice that our members are receiving from the fire and rescue service, which I think is sometimes a bit bemusing for landlords.”
He suggested a “primary fire authority system” should be put in place and would do a better job of providing clear advice to landlords.
Matt Dicks, director of the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru, said landlords “are saying that they need further clarity” on whether ‘stay put’ is the best advice for different demographics of tenants.
Gareth John, chair of the Cardiff Hub at the Chartered Institute of Building, said: “I think a ‘stay put’ policy should only be in place where through risk assessment you know that the standard of the building, the fire compartmentation and everything that goes with it, is 100% up to standard.
“But even then, if escape is possible and can be safely done then that should be the first instruction in my view.”
