Agenda item

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented a report detailing prosecutions in respect of fire safety management failures and arson related incidents.  There were 2 successfully completed prosecutions under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and 7 incidents where investigations were ongoing and case files being prepared.

Fire protection and business support information considered by Members included: i) fire safety information system and inspection programme, ii) business safety and website; iii) implementing regulatory change and transforming fire protection services; iv) building risk review of all high rise buildings in Lancashire; and v) recruitment of fire protection staff.

In addition Members noted that there were 10 arson convictions reported.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Shedwick regarding the building risk review (as detailed on page103) the Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that the national target to respond to immediate concerns from high-rise residential buildings had been set for December 2021 and the Service aimed to have all the audits undertaken by March 2021.  He confirmed that the Service had already carried out an assessment of risk and had started to inspect those that were most significant.  The Service had increased its pre-determined attendance to 6 premises where there were significant concerns and work remained ongoing to visit all 73 premises by March 2021.

CC Hennessy praised the team on their work, referring to the quote by His Honour Judge Medland (as detailed on page 101) that “Fire Safety Teams in the local areas should be commended for not only compiling an exemplary prosecution case file but also the help, support and professionalism shown”. 

In response to a question raised by Councillor Williams regarding the Service returning to a business to report on any improvements so the business could reopen, the Assistant Chief Fire officer advised that it depended on hazards in the building.  The shortfalls in the fire risk assessment at the Cornhill Hotel were significant.  They didn’t have a suitable means to raise a fire alarm to residents and holidaymakers would be unfamiliar with the surroundings.  In this type of case the Service used the full weight of the legislation and could prohibit the use of part, or as in this case, all of the building.  Nationally the legislation was used frequently and appropriately and in this case the Judge was in full of praise for the support provided to the Hotel by the Service.

County Councillor Beavers stated that it was 3 years since the Grenfell Tower Fire.  She asked that of the 2,000 high-rise buildings covered with dangerous cladding how may were in Lancashire and what was the Service doing to help remedy the situation.  The Chief Fire Officer advised that this was a really significant issue for the Service, not just in terms of high-rise or cladding but the nature and scope would only get broader.  The Service inspected all high rise buildings for aluminium composite material (ACM) type cladding initially however, more cladding types and their methods of construction had come into play over time which had created the new requirement for the Service to go back out and look again at these buildings.  At the time of the initial inspection there were no domestic high-rise buildings with ACM type cladding but when you started to look at other cladding forms and at wooden balconies and constructions in very modern premises that had caught fire around the country, this was going to be a significant issue for all fire and rescue services which was why the Service was bringing forward a significant change programme. 

The Chief Fire Officer confirmed that there were some domestic high rise buildings classified in special measures ie: that needed a waking watch and additional procedures in place before a remedy was put in place by the building owners.  This was tied up in the same myriad of issues that were occurring nationally including: who were the responsible persons that were needed to do the work, how long would remediation take and what was safe remediation.  In addition, the more the range of issues coming out of Grenfell was considered the more premises types were identified, particularly as thinking moved away from only considering high rise buildings.

The Chief Fire Officer confirmed that there were premises in Lancashire that had ACM cladding but they were not high rise domestic buildings. The size and scale of this would fundamentally change the entire response to the built environment and the fire sector would have a significant role to play.  The legislation was just going through parliament and the National Fire Chiefs Council had been consulted and had input into that.  There was a danger that if the consultation was not done carefully and respond to correctly the sector could find it had a much bigger remit without the appropriate resources to respond.  The size and scale of this was fundamental change for the sector and this was the start of that journey.

The Chief Fire Officer wanted to be in a position to reassure Members that the building stock in Lancashire was safe in accordance to building regulations but there was a lot more work to be done over the coming months and years when considering the scale.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer added that in Lancashire, ACM was not a primary concern, it was high pressure laminates, checking the suitability of doors ie: that they were fire doors and in relation to compartmentation.  Retrospectively changing gas installations and electrical intakes to buildings was another area that created significant concern.  He advised that building fires not behaving as expected was far wider than Grenfell ie: the Cube incident in Manchester and other timber cladded or framed buildings across the country.  He reassured Members that the Service was fully considering the built environment, the implications of the last 2 decades of regulatory reform, the way the built environment had developed and the potential lack compliance with fire safety.  This was a huge piece of work the detail of which would be presented to Members at a future meeting or Strategy Day.  Plans had been developed for the next 3 years to create system change in the way the Service operated to ensure public safety was as robust as it could be.

The Chief Fire Officer confirmed that this issue was not that the Service had not done what needed to be done over the last 20 years; it was about looking at who was responsible for what, across the range of building partners for building construction and that was what would change through new legislation with a new role for the fire sector foreseen as more significant than in the past.

RESOLVED: - That the Authority noted and endorsed the report.