Fire Service Inspection

[Debbie Beck]

What is other members experience of inspections by the local fire service?

For background, we have 2 homes in different fire authority areas. One has recently visited and is unhappy with our evacuation policy although they won’t commit to telling us it should be ‘stay put’. Our policy is to evacuate and we have PEEPs for those who are unable to do so with this info contained in the red box with all other info that the fire service require on attendance. This is a quote from their recent letter ‘You informed me that currently some of your residents are not able to self-evacuate. You may need to consider the suitability of your type of premises for those who require assistance and discuss any temporary measures with the fire risk assessor. It is essential to understand that the responsibility for evacuation lies with you, not with the Fire and Rescue Service. The Fire and Rescue Service’s role is to respond to emergencies, not to manage or carry out evacuations. Therefore, your fire safety arrangements must be robust, inclusive, and regularly reviewed.’

We follow the AA guidance and that of the NFCC Specialised Housing which is very clear about the nature of sheltered housing and the need for the Fire Service to work in partnership with housing providers.

Has anyone else experienced this and I’d also be interested to know whether you have an ‘evacuate’ or ‘stay put’ policy and how this works in practice.

[Tim Richardson]

This is very interesting, when the NFCC guidance first came out I attended a training course set up by the Institution of Fire Engineers, there were multiple Fire Service officers present and it was clear that there was far from a consistent approach, some seemed to think every form of housing for older people ought to be treated the same was as a nursing home. Many Fire Service personnel bracket together general Almshouses with other forms of sheltered and extra care housing and the NFCC guidance doesn’t make the distinction clear.

Evacuate or Stay Put, however, very much depends on the nature of the buildings, their age, the degree of compartmentation, fire alarm arrangements etc. and can’t really be separated from the Fire Risk Assessment.

Tim Richardson

Registered Fire Risk Assessor,
Almshouse Association Panel Consultant

[Author]

Posts