Sleeping Risk Fires

Within the past four months there have been a number of high profile fires involving fires in buildings that provide sleeping accommodation.

In all cases the fire was able to spread virtually through the whole building and destroy it.

One has to ask the question about the standard of fire compartmentation that was present in these buildings to allow such escalation of the fire. Any risk assessment that is worth its salt will identify such failings and hopefully the management will address them.

Hidden voids, breaches in fire compartment walls and ceilings all help a fire to spread to areas of the building that were not initially involved.

Then of course there is the issue of compliant fire doors that should help stop smoke and heat from spreading along corridors and contain fires to the room of origin.

Fire doors need to be certified in the first instance and maintained to a satisfactory standard to remain effective, a fire door that is held open by a wedge is not a fire door.

Buildings need to be audited on a regular basis as they are virtually living things that move and become damaged etc. Fire has no conscience, if you allow it to have life it will under the right conditions destroy your business in minutes .