Housing chiefs are launching a charm offensive to reassure residents in Bristol’s high-rise council blocks after fire evacuation plans were branded a “recipe for disaster”. Tenants fear that new national guidance to get everyone out at the same time in an emergency will cause a stampede or someone tripping over and blocking the way, especially in towers with just one staircase.
Last week Bristol City Council’s cabinet approved £97million of fire safety measures, of which almost half will be spent removing and replacing dangerous “expanded polystyrene” cladding (EPS), along with £32.7million to install sprinklers in all 62 blocks six storeys or higher by 2028. About £8.7million will pay for simultaneous evacuation alarms in individual flats over the next 12 months as an interim measure to replace the existing 24/7 “waking watches” if the cladding work is not scheduled within the next year.
It follows the fatal fire at Twinnell House, Easton, in September and a second serious blaze a month later at Eccleston House in Barton Hill, with flammable EPS cladding at the latter helping to spread the flames. But residents are worried that the evacuation plans have not been properly thought through and also say there will be resistance to sprinklers.
Read more: Sprinklers for all tower blocks as Bristol City Council announces £97m fire safety measures
City council assets strategy manager Alison Napper told a public meeting of the authority’s housing management board: “Over the course of next year we will be looking to put simultaneous evacuation alarms in those blocks where the EPS isn’t going to be removed within that year, and it will replace the waking watch. Those are alarms in each and every flat and are triggered by a fire somewhere in the building, so this will be the means by which we will tell all residents in the block there is a fire somewhere and you need to get out.
“So we are looking to stand down the waking watch and put in the alarms.” Board member and council tenant Nigel Varley, of Gilton House, Brislington, where contractors are currently removing the cladding, replied: “That is a recipe for disaster.
“That is incredibly dangerous. If the alarm goes off all over the block and the policy is to get out, you’re going to get a rush for the doors, and in some blocks there is only one staircase. It only needs someone to trip over or cause an obstruction and you have a very serious situation.
“So this evacuation policy needs careful thought. That could cause a disaster should it ever be needed.”
He said residents with mobility problems were concerned and that they needed to know they were entitled to a personal evacuation plan. Nigel told the meeting on Thursday, January 26: “There will be opposition to sprinklers from a lot of tenants because of the dangers of setting them off accidentally, especially in kitchens – quite a few of us have set smoke alarms off by burning the toast.
“If you end up with a soaked-through flat, that could be an issue. So if you’re going to install sprinklers, you have to engage with tenants because there will be resistance to it.”
Board deputy chairman and council tenant Pete Daw said that following the Twinnell House tragedy, where Abdul Jabar Oryakhel, 30, died trying to escape a fire in a top-floor flat, residents were “scared” to return home at night and that these fears should not be underestimated. Alison said the council was following national advice on evacuation plans.
“There are issues with blocks with single staircases but the fire service can override the lifts, and we are following national fire chiefs’ guidance on this, so it isn't something we've come up with in Bristol, this is the recommended approach,” she said. “We need to do a lot of communication with residents with some really good information about sprinklers – how they are set off, the heat levels that set off sprinklers – it’s very different to smoke alarms.
“We’ve been through this with residents at Butler House, we’ve learned a lot of lessons and we really need to reassure residents how effective sprinklers are in putting out fires, but also the circumstances which trigger them and which don’t. People talk about steam or burning toast but these don’t trigger sprinklers.
“We need to make sure we develop an annual communication plan with residents and make sure we improve communication in each and every block.” She added that the cladding replacement programme would ensure the time gap between removing the old risky material and installing the new cladding was as short as possible so flats were not left uninsulated, and that blocks that were due for renovation would have that work done at the same time.
Read next:
Twinnell House resident says ‘every day has been hell’ since moving in six months ago
Fire marshals stepped down as cladding made safe at two Bristol council tower blocks
Bristol tower blocks: More than half have flammable polystyrene cladding
POLITICS: To keep up to date with latest Bristol politics news, and discuss thoughts with other residents, join our Bristol politics news and discussion here. You can also sign up to our politics newsletter here.
Click here for the latest headlines from in and around Bristol.
