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| UPDATED
EVERY FRIDAY
Last Update:
Friday 27th May, 2005 |
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| All
content © New Journal Enterprises, 2005. |
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| Revealed: Scandal of tower block fire traps |
Peter Harvey points out some of the ‘fire safety’
features at the Blashford block in Adelaide Road, Swiss
Cottage. Abovet: A locked and rusting control switch
locked dry rise main (for pumping water)
a broken fire door
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NOT a single tower block in Camden is fullyfitted with fire
alarms and smoke detectors, a New Journal investigation has
revealed.
As the tragic death of 70-year-old grandmother Irene Linnane
in a blaze at her 12th-floor Holborn flat showed last month,
thousands of tenants across Camden are at risk from the failure
to bring fire safety up to modern standards.
At least four fires in the last 12 months at other Camden
high rises have left tenants in need of hospital treatment,
although, mercifully, no others have died – yet.
But shockingly, there is no requirement for landlords to fit
alarms or smoke detectors at blocks built before 1992; free
detectors are only fitted where tenants request them directly
from the fire brigade.
Ms Linnane’s daughter, Avril Wood, said: “When
I found out there were no fire alarms because the building
was too old, it made me mad.
“I can’t believe there would be regulations that
didn’t include having fire alarms.”
Today the CNJ calls for the safety measures to be put in place
is being backed by the Fire Brigades Union, which also called
for sprinkler systems to be fitted at all high rises in a
vote at its national conference in Southport.
That call follows the death of two Hertfordshire firefighters
in a high-rise blaze and will include a demand that central
government pay local authorities for the improvements.
Peter Harvey, chairman of the tenants association at Blashford,
an 18-story high-rise on the Chalcots Estate in Adelaide Road,
said: “We have no fire alarms or smoke detectors in
most of our flats – if there’s a fire they have
to go around and knock on each door to get people out, which
is crazy.
“The windows still haven’t been fixed from the
last fire which was nearly a year ago.
“The fire was outside in the basement but the smoke
rose up through the lift shaft and older people a long way
up the building had to be hospitalised because of it.
“It was very difficult to get out of the building through
the foyer but we managed it. But I’m very concerned
about what would happen if there was a fire higher up the
building.
“We were promised fire safety improvements through the
PFI but that now won’t happen.”
A blaze on the seventh floor of nearby Dorney, also on the
Chalcots estate, in October left four people in need of medical
attention and led to complaints from tenants about poorly
maintained fire doors.
Two infernos at Bacton in Haverstock Road, Gospel Oak, led
tenants to complain that vulnerable elderly or drink and drug
addicted tenants were unwisely being placed in high-rises.
Former tenants chair Ann Atherton said: “We’ve
had cameras and a concierge put in recently – they spent
all this money but there’s no alarms on the upper floors
and we haven’t been given any instructions about the
evacuation process.”
An FBU spokesman and Camden firefighter said: “I don’t
know of a single tower block in Camden that has fire alarms
or smoke detectors fitted in every flat and communal space.
“Fighting fires in a high rise is one of the hardest
challenges we face. You are isolated and to a large extent
you’re at the mercy of the fire safety measures in place
at the building – are the exits clear and have people
who could get out, got out.
“Anything that could be done to reduce the risks should
be done, particularly because the number of aerial units –
fire engines with particularly long ladders – has been
cut recently.”
Camden Council, owns 13 tower blocks in Holborn, Mornington
Crescent, Swiss Cottage, Gospel Oak and West Hampstead. It
points to its ‘safe as houses’ campaign to make
tenants aware of the availability of free smoke detectors
but says it cannot afford to install complete systems itself.
Government investment in council housing has been on hold
since tenants rejected plans to hand over ownership of their
flats to a partially privatised ‘Almo’ board in
January last year.
And a Private Finance Initiative bid, which would have unlocked
funds for improvements at five tower blocks on the Chalcots
Estate in Swiss Cottage, was rejected by the Government in
February.
Housing Supremo Cllr Raj Chada said: “It’s important
that people know that if they want a smoke alarm it will be
provided to them by the fire service. Obviously we are pushing
generally for extra investment in housing whilst work with
‘safe as houses’ continues.”
Camden Council and the Fire Brigade said, in a joint statement:
“We have been working together over the past two years
under the ‘Safe as Houses’ project to give free
fire safety checks and smoke alarms to all residents.
“So far, around 5,500 residents have taken up the offer
and had a smoke alarm installed as a direct result of this
project.”
Free fire safety checks can be organised by calling 0800 028
4428.
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