Fire Awareness Training – Brighton
It support the concept of covering home aswell as work, relevant as I am a Fire Warden – Kevin Claxton
Very personable thought provoking & interesting, very useful both for work and home – Martina Pickin
Lots to think about and take home and apply aswell – Cher Rooney
Hardhitting but brought some points home, made them real. Very relevant, good to consider home settings too – Jennie Leleux
Completely relevant, good to refresh my knowledge, content was excellent, very informative – Sharon Goodes
Good mix of talk and videos – Naomi Cornford
Very clear, useful information – Cat Scott
Fire at Redditch Factory
Fire crews from Hereford and Worcester Fire Service attended a fire at a factory in Redditch on Thursday, 3rd March.
The fire broke out at the factory owned by The Robst Group at around noon but thanks to the automatic fire alarm system being activated, fire crews were able to get to the fire quickly before any major damage was caused.
The spare parts manager of the group, Veronique Mureau said that due to the fast reactions of the firefighters, there should be no serious disruption to the business.
It is a legal requirement that a fire risk assessment be carried out on all commercial buildings. If business owners fail to adhere to these laws they can be prosecuted, fined and even sent to prison.
Billericay charity shop closes High Street
A fire which broke out at an Essex Oxfam shop caused chaos on Billericay High Street on the morning of Friday 4th March.
The fire spread to 3 other neighbouring buildings causing a roof to collapse and the area had to be closed to the public and vehicles for many hours.
10 fire crews attended the blaze and no casualties have been reported.
The cause of the fire is being investigated but is not being treated as suspicious.
It is a legal requirement that a fire risk assessment be carried out on all commercial buildings. If business owners fail to adhere to these laws they can be prosecuted, fined and even sent to prison.
Council admits insufficient Fire Risk Assessments at Lakanal House
On 3rd July 2009, a serious fire broke out on the 9th floor of the Lakanal House flats in Camberwell, London.
150 people were evacuated from the flats and 6 people lost their lives. 18 fire engines attended the blaze.
Southwark Council said that it had spent around £3,500,000 on refurbishment to meet current fire safety standard.
Kim Humphreys of Southwark Council said: “London Fire Brigade provided our housing officers with training which we presumed, erroneously, would meet the requirements. This has not been the case and that’s why we decided that we are going to have outside experts provide us with fire risk assessments for those complex blocks. We have identified that we want to go further than just the basic fire risk assessment and we will be carrying out intrusive inspections of those blocks.”
The Council have now taken further steps to ensure that staff receive sufficient training. An article on the Councils website said: “As we are London’s largest social landlord, with over 50,000 properties and over 300 high rise blocks, we take our responsibilities seriously. The responsibility to do a fire risk assessment was transferred to local councils in 2006. We asked the London Fire Brigade to train our staff to conduct fire risk assessments and they trained 132 Southwark housing officers. Following the training programme a number of follow-up sessions were run to support staff. Blocks over six storeys have had an FRA conducted by a council officer. Where we believe it is necessary we can escalate the fire risk assessment for further technical or intrusive work, carried out by external experts”.
Children taken to hospital after flat fire
A fire which started in the bin storage area of a block of flats in Lye in the West Midlands broke out on Monday 28th February.
Four adults and five children required medical attention at the scene, and several were later transported to hospital for further treatment.
Firefighters from Brierley Hill and Stourbridge fire stations tackled the blaze for about 30 minutes.
It is a legal requirement that a fire risk assessment be carried out in all communal areas of a house of multiple occupation. If landlords fail to adhere to these laws they can be prosecuted, fined and even sent to prison.