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Morning Briefing: incident commander ‘saved lives’ by overriding stay put during care home fire
The incident commander responding to a devastating blaze at a housing association care home “undoubtedly saved lives” by overriding a stay put policy in place for the building – and the rest of the weekend’s housing news
In the news
The incident commander in charge of responding to a fire at a housing association-managed care home has been praised for overriding the building’s stay put policy in order to evacuate all the residents safely.
A report on the BBC News quotes Lee Shears, head of protection at Cheshire Fire and Rescue, saying: “From speaking to the incident commander first at the scene, it’s clear that the fire wasn’t behaving in the way that we would expect, and I must praise his swift and decisive actions in ordering the immediate evacuation of residents. His decision undoubtedly saved lives.”
The fire at the care home managed by Your Housing Group started in the roof and quickly spread through the building. The BBC reported that the building had a stay put order in place which was dropped when the fire began spreading. Staff were also praised for their response.
Also in fire safety news this morning is a report on the BBC which says housing associations are still refusing to share risk assessments with residents. It found only five out of 20 housing associations proactively published them, while some residents say they weren’t shared when requested.
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Previous housing minister Kit Malthouse has told Inside Housing the government may force associations to share risk assessments. The Information Commissioner has also told the sector to publish them proactively and in full.
In other news, The Guardian has a piece about French bank BNP Paribas financing a programme from L&Q to help residents into work.
The paper also runs a piece about the poor housing conditions of Chagos Islanders in Crawley - a group of people evicted from their homeland when the UK sold it to the US for a military base in the 1960s. Inside Housing has previously run a feature on their housing conditions.
In The Telegraph there is coverage of pressures on GP services due to new housing developments. The survey of 901 GP surgeries nationwide was originally carried out by Pulse magazine and showed the average waiting time is now above two weeks.
New housing secretary Robert Jenrick has made another trip to the Midlands, where he is keen to point out that he is from, for a visit to Accord’s offsite housing factory. The Express and Star quoted him saying: “I was delighted to visit the West Midlands, where I’m from, which is blazing a trail for the modern methods of construction that are transforming how quickly and affordably homes are built.”
And for anyone looking for an international flavour to their housing news this morning, there is a very interesting long read in Al Jazeera about how the housing crisis in Hong Kong is fuelling the discontent in the city state.
On social media
Architect George Clarke’s social media campaign for social housing is continuing to build support.
Wow! 🎉 We’ve reached an incredible 200,000 signatures on our @changeuk petition 👏 Thanks so much to everyone who has signed, shared and supported @mrgeorgeclarke’s #CouncilHouse100 campaign - can we reach 250,000?! #UKHousing pic.twitter.com/xGXTvSrjgt
— George Clarke’s Council House Scandal (@CHouseScandala>Wow! \uD83C\uDF89 We’ve reached an incredible 200,000 signatures on our @changeuk petition \uD83D\uDC4F Thanks so much to everyone who has signed, shared and supported @mrgeorgeclarke’s #CouncilHouse100 campaign - can we reach 250,000?! #UKHousing pic.twitter.com/xGXTvSrjgt
— George Clarke's Council House Scandal (@CHouseScandal) August 10, 2019
