Investigation begins into primary school blaze
It has been confirmed by police that a probe is now under way after a village primary school near Stirling was badly damaged due to a fire last Saturday evening.
Around 40 firefighters were required to tackle the fire at East Plean Primary School in Main Street, Plean, which is not far from Stirling, at about 8pm.
A Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman confirmed: “On arrival, crews were met with a developing fire in the school, which has required the attendance of 40 firefighters and officers.”
The fire crews worked through the night to get the fire under control, but they were unable to prevent substantial damage due to the ferocity of the flames. The fire was eventually put out at 5:30am on the Sunday morning.
A number of roads through the village including the A9 had to be closed following the fire.
Meetings are currently being held by the authorities to discuss the implications for the school’s pupils and keeping any disruptions to an absolute minimum.
The cause of the incident is still not known and Central Scotland Police are working with the fire service in investigating what happened for the school to catch fire.
Parliament to hear landlord fire safety bill
The House of Common is preparing for the second reading of a private members bill stating that all landlords would be required by law to ensure that their properties are equipped with working smoke alarms.
The new law would mean that all landlords of public and private properties would be responsible for fitting and maintaining mains wired smoke alarm systems at the beginning of every new tenancy. Once fitted, this responsibility to maintain the fire alarms would pass to the tenant.
Currently, landlords are required to provide safe gas and electrical supplies but in many cases are not required by law to provide smoke alarms when it is a known fact that there are many more deaths from fire each year than by the effects of gas, carbon monoxide and electricity.
Dozens of lives are lost each year to fire related accidents in the home. Devon & Somerset Fire and Rescue Service Chief Fire Officer, Lee Howell is giving his full support to the bill and has said “It has been proved time and time again that working smoke alarms can save lives. It makes such a difference – in some cases a life and death difference”.
Mr Howell urges the public to contact their MPs to ask them to support the bill that will be heard later this month.
Reading landlady fined £60,000
A Reading Landlady has been fined £60,000 for health, safety and fire regulation breaches.
Millicent Okumo rented the property to a group of immigrants, charging £700 per month. The property in London Road, Katesgrove was visited by environmental health inspectors who deemed the property virtually uninhabitable. They also discovered that there were no working fire alarms in the property. Mrs Okumo had been asked to improve the property in the past but has failed to carry out the necessary work.
A representative for Reading Borough Council said “This shocking case shows that some landlords in our town are still failing to live up to their responsibilities in this regard. This is wholly unacceptable and these landlords need to know that if this happens action will be taken by this council against them.”
Mrs Okumo did not turn up for her court hearing is now thought to be on the run from the authorities.
£50,000 fine for ‘Death Trap’ store
Poundstretcher Ltd has pleaded guilty to serious fire safety breaches at its Huddersfield store.
A fire safety inspector found that the store was putting its staff and customers at serious risk of injury or death due to a catalogue of safety failings at the store.
Inspectors discovered that only one fire exit was in use, but was not working properly and could actually have trapped them inside the building rather than helping them escape. Other exits that were not in use were blocked by large amounts of combustible material.
Before the failings were discovered, a risk assessment had been carried out and recommendations had been made but were not actioned at the store.
The Company has been fined £50,000 for the breaches. In the past 18 months it has also had to pay out over £20,000 for failings at other stores in Wakefield and Halifax.
The Company accepted responsibility and immediately set about rectifying all of the issues. Poundstretcher company secretary, Martin Collinson said, “We note the comments of the judge and we have to take what he said very seriously”.
Specialists start work on fire damaged Hastings Pier
Hastings council have now called in specialists to remove asbestos and dangerous debris from the pier, which was hit by fire a month ago.
The East Sussex pier was ravaged by a deliberate fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning on the 5th of October and two men from St Leonards have already been arrested on suspicion of arson.
When asbestos was found it was agreed with the Health Protection Agency that it had to be removed safely from the pier, although the structure itself will not be demolished.
A spokesman for the council, Kevin Boorman, said:
“I must stress that this operation is not about demolishing Hastings Pier, it is about removing loose debris and other material that is in danger of falling on to the beach below.
“Our contractors have identified that there is some asbestos in the remains of one of the buildings.
“They have already appointed specialist sub-contractors, and they are now working with the engineer to identify a safe method of removing this material.
“This is not being made any easier by the dangerous nature of the pier, particularly in the area where the asbestos has been found.”
It took firefighters four days to put out the fire on the pier.