Flat Fire in St Judes Bristol – Do a Flat Fire Evaluation
It was a warm summer evening on Sunday 28 May 2017. We had all the windows wide open and a gentle breeze flowed through the flat keeping the high indoor temperatures at bay.
Suddenly, my ten year old leaps up. “Fire,” he says urgently. He was right. All of a sudden, not smoke, but acrid fumes began to fill the room. Ordering my children to wait by the front door of the flat, I dashed around the other rooms looking for a possible source of fire.
On the street a crowd was gathering. “Flat fire,” shouted a man up at me who had walked some yards up the street from the pub to investigate. He was taking no chances with his fresh pint of lager, clutching it tightly in one hand whilst pointing at a block of flats on the opposite side of the road.
After shutting the windows and opening our main flat door to a communal corridor in an attempt to clear the chemical smell of fumes from the flat, the fire brigade were arriving en masse. Within minutes of the fire starting, burly, brave people were running into a building whilst everyone else was moving in the opposite direction. And for these kinds of people I will always be grateful. The situation was clearly dealt with quickly and effectively.
Nobody cares enough about St Judes to bother cladding flats. It still has echoes of the slums that were cleared to make way for better housing. For a huge council estate, it’s reasonably tidy. It’s a place where most residents keep themselves to themselves. But like most social housing tenants, it’s probably not where you would choose to live if you had any kind of fair choice. These areas will always be filled with people on low incomes, single parents, the desperate, the homeless. All the kinds of people that the Daily Mail incite hatred against. All the people the Tory party want you to think are scroungers. Those who don’t deserve a decent chance or a safe home because they are ‘lazy’ and ‘feckless’.
The incident made me evaluate fire safety in our own flat. The Housing Association which owns it rents out to a mixture of people including social housing tenants and private home owners. In fairness, they are quite good in their approach to health and safety, make regular visits, deal with problems as best as they can. They also supplied very clear fire prevention advice and emergency evacuation procedures. Ours is a leave the building immediately approach – if it is safe to do so. But what if it is not safe to do so?
When you live above ground floor level, fire evacuation immediately becomes more difficult. After the May flat fire, I bought a fire evacuation ladder. It’s unlikely to fit our funny windows well, but I know that I can hold it at the top whilst my children go down it. Provided it’s not the flat below us on fire.
Other things to consider are:
Keeping exits clear at night – no toys on the floor
Making sure internal doors can close
Test fire and carbon monoxide alarms are working
Have a fire blanket or fire extinguisher – yes it’s better to get out rather than fight a fire, but you still have to be able to get out
Do windows and doors need keys and do you know where they are? Perhaps put a hook up next to the window to hang them on
Have torches that work so you can try and find your way out at night or in thick smoke
Some people recommend keeping fire hoods to help you evacuate
Have a fire plan
If communal areas are blocked or full of rubbish inform your housing officer
Of course, if you live in one of the high rise tower blocks of which there are many in Bristol, evacuation will be different and it is likely the council will be reviewing this carefully right now. It is worth considering that the 2014 Carolina House tower block fire was contained to the flat it broke out in and those in the immediate vicinity of it. Flames did not rip across the entire structure. Hundreds of people were not screaming and begging for their lives and throwing tiny babies out of windows.
On Wednesday 14 June 2017, a spokesperson speaking on behalf Bristol City Council and Avon Fire & Rescue Service, said: “We were deeply saddened to hear the news this morning about the fire in a London housing block. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the friends and families of those who have lost their lives or been affected by the tragedy.
“We would like to reassure Bristol residents that the council and Avon Fire and Rescue Service work extremely closely and all Bristol City Council tower blocks have Fire Risk Assessments in place which are checked annually. There are also a number of other safety measures in place, such as smoke detectors in every home, as well as sprinklers in the majority of bin rooms – all blocks will have these by the end of the year.
“We do not believe that there is any cause for concern about the council’s housing blocks, but we will of course consider the details of the fire in London as they emerge, including whether there are any other steps which may need to be taken.”
And today I received the letter from the Housing Association who own the building we live in. One that I have been expecting since Wednesday. Suddenly it’s time for an inspection visit to survey communal areas and grounds for safety and security. It shouldn’t be a case of retrospectively making sure all flats owned by social housing providers are safe. Safe housing is a basic human right. Even for poor people.
After what happened to Grenfell Tower in London, it’s too late for questions and recriminations. The residents made their worries and concerns clear. Their blog posts in cyberspace about fire concerns going back years are all that some residents have left. Police have opened up a criminal investigation. Cynically, we all know how that’s going to go. It’s going to be months of those responsible worming their way out of it. Buck passing. Blame deflection. And while that circus goes on, it won’t bring back the innocent victims of this. It won’t bring back the dead.
People should be angry. Really angry. But whilst being really angry, make sure you have a fire plan. There’s a lot of housing in this country clad in cheap crap. Make sure in the dark, in the most challenging of conditions, you and your family already have a plan.