To hear from, and ask questions to Nicholas Davis, Southwark Borough Commander, London Fire Brigade.
Minutes:
The committee heard from Nicholas Davis, Southwark Borough Commander, London Fire Brigade. In addressing the committee Nicholas Davis provided the committee with information/updates in respect of the issues as detailed below.
Elephant and Castle Fire
The large scale fire incident at the Elephant and Castle on 29 June 2021, impacting on three commercial units underneath a railway arch which were completely destroyed by the Fire. Six people were treated at the scene by the London Ambulance Service and one person taken to hospital due to smoke inhalation.
Around 600 people were evacuated, mainly from surrounding properties – this was a safety measure in precaution to two cylinders contained in one of the garages. The fire was thought to be accidental, and caused by an electrical fault within one of the workshops.
Following the fire, local crews from Old Kent Road Fire station attended the surrounding residential high rise blocks to offer reassurance and home fire safety advice through leaflets.
Marie Curie Block, SE5
The change from a ‘stay put’ policy to a simultaneous evacuation policy on the Marie Curie block and the installation of a waking watch to support a simultaneous evacuation. This was introduced following an intrusive survey of the compartmentation within the block. Inspecting officers, supported by technical engineers carried out a number of audits and had been working with the council towards resolution of the issues.
Nicholas Davis reported that the London Fire Brigade were content that the council had complied with all the relevant guidance, and thanked council staff for being as open and transparent with the Fire Brigade around the issues. There had subsequently been 39 visits to Marie Curie since the issues were identified, and the purpose of those visits were to make sure that the simultaneous evacuation was still in place and the agreed method of detection and notification to residents was still sufficient.
The London Fire Brigade’s operation risk database had also been updated with the change in policy from stay put to simultaneous evacuation – this was to ensure that local fire crews having to attend an incident would have the relevant information. LFB had also undertaken some community engagement work and had conducted 22 fire safety visits within the block this year.
Proactive and preventative measures in place around fire safety across the borough
Nicholas Davis clarified the role of LFB in relation to fire safety due to the crossover of responsibility of building owners. For LFB, there were two sides to their fire safety, Regulation and the other, community engagement. The building owner or responsible person was responsible for complying with building regulations and this was mainly done through fire risk assessments (FRAs). Over the last 12 months LFB had completed 588 fire safety visits in the borough of which 494 had been either high risk or vulnerable people, receiving important fire safety advice. Nicholas Davis explained that due to Covid 19, LFB had to adjust how this this was delivered, with a covid risk assessment being undertaken. People were now also being directed to LFBs new online home fire safety checker.
Work was also being undertaken with partners around supporting vulnerable people, through safeguarding referrals, both from LFB and other stakeholders. LFB had also completed 694 visual audits within the last 12 months. Due to the number of buildings that needed to be inspected, crews in fire stations had also been upskilled so that they can complete fire safety checks. It was stressed that they were not fire safety inspection officers, but could provide an early indication of any issues and feed that back to inspecting officers.
Pass out parades with Southwark Cadets were run from the Old Kent Road branch, this had continued through Covid, albeit with smaller pass out parades. School visits had also continued, four had been delivered virtually and had been really successful and one face to face school visit had also been carried out – future bookings to a number of schools had or were being arranged also.
An equality impact assessment had been completed earlier in the year as part of the selection process for the London Fire Brigade’s community engagement pilot. Southwark had been successful and were now one of the nine pilot boroughs within the London Fire Brigade. The aim of the pilot was to engage with the community, residents and local business groups, to get a better understanding of what they needed from the London Fire Brigade. Feedback from the engagement would feed into the Community Risk Management Plan (formerly London Safety Plan). The Southwark Borough Commander and his management team also attended a number of strategic boards and meetings, including the Strategic Building Safety Partnership, the business resilience board, Adult and Children Safeguarding Boards, Safer Neighbourhoods Ward Chairs, London Streetscape and LTNs, and the MARAC Safer Communities Sub Group.
There had been a number of new and updated policies around high rise firefighting, fire survival guidance calls (FSGs), emergency evacuation and mass rescues. The LFB were also equipped with new specialist equipment, including fire escape hoods, new firefighting drones, and smoke blockers (used to secure stairwells that have been compromised with smoke). The Old Kent Road Fire Brigade were due to receive one of the new height extended aerial appliances, which could reach up to 64 metres (20 floors). This would be one of three available in London.
Figures for buildings in the borough with known cladding or related fire safety issues and the measures in place to ensure they do not pose a serious safety hazard
Nicholas Davis clarified that it was the responsibility for the building owner or responsible persons to put in required safety measures and also to arrange for the undertaking of a risk assessment and to take appropriate actions. In relation to the statistics, Nicholas Davis advised that as of 1 December there were 75 blocks within the borough, 16 local authority, 47 housing associations and 12 privately owned blocks. 55 of the blocks were over 80 metres (six floors) and 20 under 18 metres.
Four were classed as ACM clad, 31 that were non ACM cladding issues and 40 that were classed as compartmentation issues. These numbers however changed on a daily basis due to safety measures being undertaken – where works had been undertaken the block would change status from ‘simultaneous evacuation to ‘stay put’. Southwark had the second highest number in London that were in that position, with Tower Hamlets being the borough with more. There was a requirement for each of the blocks in need of repair have to be visited every two weeks to make sure that simultaneous evacuation was still in place and agreed methods of detection and notification to residents was still sufficient and records updated accordingly.
Impact of Covid on the service and response times
Nicholas Davis reported that Covid had had no impact on LFBs attendance to fires. First attendance times were currently at four and half minutes, the brigades current standards was six minutes. The second attendance was currently at five minutes forty nine seconds, as an average for the last 12 months and the brigade’s standard response time was eight minutes. Nicholas Davis was satisfied that the fire brigade were responding in the right amount of time.
Covid had had a limited impact on staffing levels. There were robust risk assessments and good advice to staff.
Fire brigade callouts during Guy Fawkes period
Nicholas Davis report that LFB attended four fires, this was a 50% reduction compared to the previous year.
Number of vehicle fires
LFB had attended 31 vehicle fires over the last 12 months, 12 of which were diesel car fires, with the main cause being the cars overheating. There had been a reduction of 34% of vehicle fires compared to the previous year.
Grenfell Fire Inquiry
Nicholas Davis also reported that the commissioner had been giving evidence at the Grenfell Inquiry. There had been lots of references to the Lakanal fire which he and his team were very aware of and they were seeking to do some focussed on ensuring that the community had some reassurance. Nicholas Davis informed the committee that the Grenfell Tower report had so far made 47 recommendations in total, 29 were directly to LFB or other emergency services, 11 recommendations were aimed at other parties, but also required some action from LFB. There were also a number of recommendations which overlapped organisations, these were slightly harder to address. LFB had completed 23 of the 29 recommendations from phase 1 of the inquiry.
During the presentation, members of the committee asked questions around the following:
· Incident at Dulwich Preparatory School
· Proactive education at work and whether the people targeted is data led
· Any concerns regarding fire safety in any of the new low traffic neighbourhoods
· The work the council was doing to resolve cladding and compartmentation safety issues
· Any concerns over particular owners not taking steps to permanently rectify issues identified
· How London Fire Brigade engaged with the construction industry and developers around improving fire safety issues
· Action being taken to address racism and misogyny within the fire service
· Government pay offer and impact on staff morale
· Raising the profile of careers as opportunities, particularly in the communities that may be underrepresented in the Fire Service at present.
The chair thank Nicholas Davis for his attendance.