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Warning over safety of towers with car parks as official report calls for sprinklers
Fire safety experts have warned that buildings which have open-sided car parks at their base should be reassessed by inspectors amid concerns that they could be at risk in the event of a blaze.
The comments come on the back of a report released by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, seen exclusively by Inside Housing, which suggests that a fire in a car park in Liverpool on New Year’s Eve last year could have been contained if sprinkler systems had been installed.
The protection report into the Kings Dock fire, which caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage, found that fire crews reported that additional vehicles became involved “every 30 seconds”, allowing the fire to spread.
It eventually engulfed the whole building, destroying around 1,400 vehicles.
The report found that sprinklers would have delayed “fire development and prevent fire spread to multiple vehicles before the attendance of the Fire and Rescue Service”.
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It also blamed the initial spread of the fire on the building’s drainage system, which allowed the flames to travel between levels. Ramps within the building also later allowed the spread of the blaze, which eventually engulfed the entire building.
Current building regulations do not require open-sided car parks to have a sprinkler system fitted, and although the latest government report into containing car park fires acknowledges that they can help prevent spread, it concludes that their use is “limited”.
But Jan Taranczuk, who advises housing professionals on fire safety, said he believed fires in car parks could be contained through suppression systems, such as sprinklers and early warning systems.
“Clearly there needs to be a revisiting of the building regulations,” he said. “We should be looking at buildings where there is a car park under a block of flats, or even offices. Anywhere where people are.”
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He explained that because a large number of modern cars have plastic fuel tanks, fires are not contained within individual cars, but spread when the plastic melts. A number of running fuel fires were reported at Kings Dock.
Insurers expect to pay out about £20m to 1,300 motorists whose vehicles were destroyed in the huge fire in a Liverpool car park at the weekend, according to the Association of British Insurers t.co/W7iEqmNJp5 pic.twitter.com/rCULz59lxM
— BBC News England (@BBCEngland)Insurers expect to pay out about £20m to 1,300 motorists whose vehicles were destroyed in the huge fire in a Liverpool car park at the weekend, according to the Association of British Insurers https://t.co/W7iEqmNJp5 pic.twitter.com/rCULz59lxM
— BBC News England (@BBCEngland) January 3, 2018
Meanwhile, Arnold Tarling, a fire safety expert, said: “Sprinklers in a car park are very important because they keep the fire to the initial vehicle. You put a sprinkler in and the problem is contained.
“Timber frame buildings where there are car parks underneath are particularly at risk.”
He added: “Those regulations need to be looked at.”
Never Again campaign
Inside Housing has launched a campaign to improve fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire
Never Again: campaign asks
Inside Housing is calling for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.
LANDLORDS
- Take immediate action to check cladding and external panels on tower blocks and take prompt, appropriate action to remedy any problems
- Update risk assessments using an appropriate, qualified expert.
- Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out
- Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
GOVERNMENT
- Provide urgent advice on the installation and upkeep of external insulation
- Update and clarify building regulations immediately – with a commitment to update if additional learning emerges at a later date from the Grenfell inquiry
- Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
We will submit evidence from our research to the Grenfell public inquiry.
The inquiry should look at why opportunities to implement learning that could have prevented the fire were missed, in order to ensure similar opportunities are acted on in the future.
