Hotel manager pays £5,000 after fire safety breaches

From FIA:

A hotel manager who used to operate the Kedleston Country House Hotel near Derby has been ordered to pay £5,000 for failing to adhere to an enforcement notice.

The notice was served by Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Authority after an investigation found that there was inadequate emergency lighting and fire doors in the sleeping accommodation.
Steve Wells, who is group manager for Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, said that hotel owners have to accept a huge amount of responsibility for the safety of their guests.

"People who own and manage hotels are under a high duty of care to their guests," he said.
"This is because those staying there are unfamiliar with the layout of the hotel and will be entirely reliant on the fire safety measures provided by the owners and operators to make sure that they can get out safely in the event of a fire."

Scottish firefighters lobby Cabinet

From FIA: My comments in italics and bold.

Scottish firefighters have sought assurances from the government that frontline services will not be cut under plans to create a single service.

At a question-and-answer session in Kirkcaldy, Fife, members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) asked Scottish ministers what effects planned budget cuts could have on their jobs.
Around £4 million has been cut from the fire safety revenue budget in the county so far and further cuts are also possible.
It comes as justice secretary Kenny MacAskill looks set to announce whether fire services will be merged into one national force, with police forces also likely to be subject to a merger.
FBU Scottish secretary John Duffy, urged the Scottish Government to ensure that frontline services will not be affected by budget cuts.
"The relationship between devolution, fire brigades and HM Treasury has never been tested," he told the Press Association.
"No matter what decisions are made, the main thing is the protection of frontline services. We want assurances from the Scottish Government."

£4M cut from the Fire Safety budget? Does not bode well for Training in Fire Safety. There appears to be a lack of experience, knowledge and skills at the moment and any cuts will be reflected in this scenario worsening.
I believe that Strathclyde F & R S have started employing civilians to work in Fire Safety Departments. Because of their lack of the above they will use The Guidance Documents as their crutch and continue what we are seeing now, sadly in many cases. Using Benchmark Standards as minimum standards. 3rd Party arbitration will be busy I reckon.

Edinburgh restaurant damaged in blaze

From FIA:

Firefighters in Edinburgh were called to an award-winning restaurant on one of the city's busiest districts.
Around 16 fire professionals from Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service were called to The Witchery restaurant on the Scottish capital's Royal Mile at around 7.10pm.

The team took around two hours to extinguish the blaze, which started in the reception area of the restaurant and is believed to have started due to an electronic fault.

According to a spokeswoman for the fire service noted that the firefighters "used a CO2 extinguisher, a thermal imaging camera and small tools to cut away damage".

A 'suitable and sufficient' fire risk assessment must be conducted on all commercial properties in Scotland - including all restaurants - under the Fire Scotland Act 2005.

If the fire risk assessment is carried out to an insufficient extent, the Duty Holder can face up to two years in prison, or an unlimited fine.

Fire Safety in the Home.Informative interview.

An interesting and informative interview regarding Fire Safety in the home. Go to:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b013xskm/MacAulay_and_Co_29_08_2011/

Scroll time to: 1.12.30

High flying Linda. Brave girl.

Linda leaping into space to raise funds for Yorkhill on the 17th September 2011.

Something different for you today. Linda Campbell, the wife of one of our Consultants, Steve, is going to be leaping from an aeroplane at 10,000ft. Not unusual I can hear you say, this is a popular pursuit but Linda suffers from acrophobia and stepping off the kerb is an ordeal.


Linda (55) is facing her greatest fear to raise funds for Yorkhill Sick Children's Hospital. Her seven year old Grandson, Lewis Cox, suffered from Leukaemia and was treated at Yorkhill.

Lewis was first diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in March 2006 at aged two years. He then underwent three years of treatment at Yorkhill Sick Children's Hospital, Glasgow including several periods where he had to be admitted to the Schiehallion Ward for more intensive treatment. He went into remission in May 2009 but still attends Yorkhill Hospital on a three monthly basis for check-ups.

Linda is a Nurse by Profession and she recognizes the great work carried on in Yorkhill Children's Hospital and in particular, Schiehallion Ward. She sees this as a way of saying thanks for the on-going care Lewis is recieving.

So.........the purpose of this Blog is to raise funds to help Linda acheive a sizeable sposorship with much needed funds going to sick children in Scotland. Your cheques should be made payable to:

"Yorkhill Children's Foundation" and you can send them to our Office, 54 Delph Wynd, Tullibody. FK10 2TW and we will ensure they get to Linda.

Thank you for your support for a great cause.

http://www.dontgivefireahome.com/fire_safety/index.html

Good advice and a free smoke alarm from The Scottish Government. Go to:


http://www.dontgivefireahome.com/fire_safety/index.html

Risk Scanner, Electrical Load Calculator and Fire safety game for children of all ages, yes even your age.

Lots of good advice for Fire Safety in the home.

Value of smoke alarms highlighted.

From STV 18th August 2011:

Residents of a Leith tenement flat were saved from danger after smoke alarm alerted them to a fuse box fire.

The occupants of the ground floor flat in Henderson Street were woken at 4am by their smoke alarm which had been set off by an electrical fire in a fuse box.

They were able to make their way past the fire and outside the building before the fire crews arrived.

Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service attended with three engines and a turntable ladder.

A spokesperson for the fire service said: “The occupants had made their way to safety thanks to the early detection of the fire by the smoke alarm.

“The crews ventilated the stairwell and used a megaphone to instruct the other occupants inside the tenement block.

“They were advised to stay indoors until the stairwell was ventilated.”

No-one required medical attention or was taken to hospital.

Fires of electrical origin is still the number 1 cause of fire in the UK. Make sure your wiring and appliances are regulary checked.

2 Die in caravan fire

From FIA:

A fire at a caravan holiday park near Hastings, East Sussex, has led to the deaths of a man and a woman in their 40s.
Firefighters from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service were called to the blaze at Combe Haven caravan park 10.10pm on Saturday (August 13th), but the pair were pronounced dead at the location.
A spokesperson for the caravan park, which was located in the town of St Leonards has said that the deceased had owned the caravan since 2007.
Under Fire Safety Legislation, a 'suitable and sufficient' fire risk assessment - which aims to find and negate fire hazards - must be conducted on all sleeping accommodations, such as holiday caravan parks.
If the fire risk assessment is carried out to an insufficient extent, the Duty Holder can face a prison spell of up to two years, or an unlimited fine.

At this time of year when caravans are popular as holiday accomodation, it is imperative that a working Fire Alarm is in place and good Fire Safety principles are put in place by occupants.

Residents rescued from care home fire

From FIA:

Residents have had to be rescued from a care home in Croydon, after a fire broke out in the sleeping accommodation in the south London borough.
The blaze, which was not related to last week's disruption in the region, hit the establishment on Leafy Way at around 1am this morning (August 16th), reports BBC News.
Around 40 firefighters from London Fire Brigade were called to the blaze and rescued 16 people from the burning building. Ten of these residents were taken to hospital, suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.
Under Fire Safety Legislation, a 'suitable and sufficient' fire risk assessment - which aims to identify and negate fire hazards - must be conducted on all sleeping accommodations.
If the fire risk assessment is carried out to an insufficient extent, the Duty Holder can face up to two years in prison, or an unlimited fine.

Blaze in Glasgow Fire Station

Firefighters working for Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service have had to battle a blaze in their own station this week.
It is believed that the fire at Polmadie Community Fire Station, in Glasgow, began because the electronics in the establishment are faulty, according to Scottish news provider STV.
Dougie Boyd, station commander at Polmadie, said that the blaze shows that anyone can be hit by a blaze and praised the working fire safety measures in place.
"This unfortunate incident shows just how important it is to have a working smoke alarm in place," he said.
"It is clear that without the early warning of our fire alarms, the damage and risk of injury could have been a great deal worse."
Under the Fire Scotland Act 2005, a 'suitable and sufficient' fire risk assessment, which aims to find and negate fire hazards, must be conducted on all commercial properties.
If the fire risk assessment is carried out to an insufficient extent, the Duty Holder can face a prison spell of up to two years, or an unlimited fine.

Two New York men nearly drown -- in an elevator

From WNI Fire

Do not read this story if you have a fear of elevators. And, if you do not fear elevators, you might after reading this story. Two New York City construction workers were rescued Sunday morning after they were trapped in an elevator flooded by heavy rains. By the time rescuers arrived, the pair were standing on supply carts in water that was neck-high -- and rising.

It's hard to imagine a more chilling turn of events taking place on what was supposed to be an average workday in an average building, as two workers were taking an average elevator to get to their posts.

Here's what happened: The men were working at the former Staten Island Hotel in New York City on Sunday morning, using the elevator to move construction supplies between floors. It was raining heavily outside. The elevator began malfunctioning, refusing to stop at the upper floors.


So after a bit of button punching, the men headed to the basement. Only they had no idea that the basement in the old building was rapidly taking on water. Capt. James Melvin of the New York City Fire Department said that when the elevator hit water, it "started sinking slowly."

One of the men called 911 but could not recall the building's address, only the intersection. Then the cellphone died. Firefighters headed for the hotel, which is being remodeled as an assisted living facility. A security guard at the front told them everything was fine. "Just on a hunch, we said, 'You know what, let's drive around the back,'" Melvin said. "Sure enough, we heard these guys screaming."

The men were identified as Ed Tyler and Wendell Amaker, both in their 30s.

Melvin told Staten Island Live that he's responded to hundreds of stuck elevator calls in his FDNY career, but he'd never seen anything quite like this. "This was like something you'd see on television, in a movie."

Fire-safe cigarettes reduce the amount of house fires

Oklahoma Study.

Click on link above to see the video.

Fire-safe cigarettes reduce the amount of house fires in USA.

Fire-safe cigarettes have made a huge difference in the number of residential cigarette-related fires in the last two years, but this year they've had a negative impact on the city's wildfires.

Public House Blaze

From @fireindustry

A public house located in Weston-super-Mare was damaged in a fire which also necessitated the evacuation of nearby homes and other properties.
Firefighters were called to the commercial establishment, which is currently undergoing refurbishment, yesterday (August 2nd).
Avon Fire and Rescue Service were called at just before 3am and sent five fire appliances from stations in Weston-super-Mare, Winscombe and Yatton, these crews were later supplemented by colleagues from Kingswood, Portishead and Avonmouth.
The nearby properties were evacuated as a precaution due to the smoke, while the firefighters stopped the blaze from spreading further.
A 'suitable and sufficient' fire risk assessment must be conducted on all sleeping accommodation in England and Wales, under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and in Scotland The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005: part 3.

If the fire risk assessment is carried out to an insufficient extent, the Responsible Person can face two years in prison or an unlimited fine.

Enhanced management no substitute for care home door self-closers

From @info4fire

A care home has failed to establish that management arrangements could compensate for the absence of self-closers on bedroom doors, according to a determination under the Fire Safety Order by the secretary of state.

The care home argued that it could compensate for the absence of self-closers – part of the building’s design which was accepted by approved inspectors in 2003 – with enhanced staff intervention procedures, including the closing of any open bedroom doors in the event of a fire.

The secretary of state, however, on the advice of the government’s chief fire and rescue adviser, ruled that the fire and rescue enforcing authority was right to insist on appropriate self-closing or hold-open devices on the doors, in order to provide quick and safe evacuation in the event of danger.

The determination also rejects the approach taken by the responsible person in selecting parts of different standards to justify their approach.

“Standards are written to provide a comprehensive assessment of the risk and identify adequate protection measures for a defined risk,” says the chief fire and rescue adviser in the determination. “To take sections of differing standards and use them to form one assessment is an erroneous approach, as individual sections in guidance documents rely on assumptions in other sections of that document which may differ from other guidance.”

The care home’s case was also rejected in spite of smoke flow zone modelling which tried to suggest that smoke conditions would be tenable – even if a bedroom fire door were left open.

“The responsible person should have recognised there is established good practice designed to provide adequate protection in this situation: the use of self-closing devices on the bedroom fire doors,” concludes the advice. “This is proportionate and its use is likely to enable persons to evacuate the premises as quickly and safely as possible.

“It is therefore my view that the requirement to fit appropriate self-closing devices to the bedroom fire doors is necessary to safeguard the safety of relevant persons, and is the appropriate technical solution for remedying the established failure to comply with article 14(2)(b) of the Order.”

Distribution warehouse engulfed in flames as firefighters tackle riot blazes - VIDEO

Click on link above for full story and Video.
From @info4fire

A large Sony distribution warehouse partially collapsed as a result of a blaze which, along with many others in the capital this week, is believed to have started as a result of riots and looting.

It isn't known whether these properties were fitted with sprinklers. If they were, why did they not control the fire?

From @fireco 2nd August 2011

Court makes important care home fire safety ruling

This judgement was made in England but any Fire Risk Assessment in Scotland for a Care Home would surely agree with the findings.

Italics and bold mine.

A recent and very important judicial ruling has changed the interpretation of care home fire rules in relation to bedroom fire doors. Although this latest determination was with regard to homes having self closing fire doors the judge quite rightly ruled that although the doors should be self closing, the doors are likely to become wedged therefore they also requires hold open devices. Put simply, this means that if fire doors are to be held open, this has to done using a hold open device that is linked (acoustically or hardwired) to the building’s fire detection system and will automatically allow the door to close should there be a fire emergency.

Our Commercial Director Tom Welland says that it’s vital all owners and operators of care homes are aware of this important ruling as it underlines the dangers of wedging open fire doors and in particular those of resident’s rooms. Quite clearly enforcement officers will take a very dim view of any care home that continues with this dangerous practice. Using staff to ensure doors are closed in an emergency situation is not something that can be relied upon so automatic devices must be used.

This ruling follows the recently published fatal accident inquiry report into the fire at Rosepark care home in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, that claimed the lives of 14 residents, which included an important conclusion that, “A competent risk assessor experienced in fire safety, addressing the position at Rosepark, would have recommended the installation of self-closers (swing free, Dorgard or other similar devices) on bedroom doors as a matter of urgency…”