Fire Safety in blocks of flats | High rise vs high risk

It is a common misconception that high rise builds with multiple occupancies are more dangerous from a fire safety point of view. 

Our homes, across the board, have never been more fire safe. Indeed, the National Statistics office data on fire shows clearly that incidences of fires across all domestic premises have decreased steadily since 1981 and that casualties as a result of those fires have decreased since the early 90s.
While statistics published by the Local Government Group indicate that around 25% of domestic fires per year occur in purpose built blocks of flats, those same statistics illustrate clearly that individuals are less likely to suffer injury or death as a result of the fires.

Part of the reason for what might appear to be an incongruous result is the way that blocks of flats are structured. A fire in one dwelling need not affect the apartment next door, due to compartmentation. Fire resistant structures, fire walls and fire doors all help to keep a blaze contained in the room, or dwelling, where it ignited. In addition, the fire alarm systems in a purpose built housing block are often superior to the often battery powered alarms in houses and bungalows. This leads to more reliable alerts to fire situations and the occupant is able to exit the flat and call the Fire Service more quickly.

The escape routes in a block of flats are more protected also, often with sprinkler, mist and/or ventilation systems installed. In a domestic house or bungalow, exit routes can be cut off by fire or obscured by smoke.

The obvious advantages of structural fire protection within a block of flats, allows implementation of the ‘Stay Put’ technique in case of fire. Simply put, this means that when a fire is occurring in one of the flats, the occupants of the other flats in the block do not have to evacuate. In the event that a fire does spread, for example, if a fire door has been propped open in error, then the next affected dwelling’s own alarms would sound and indicate that the time had arrived to evacuate that flat also.
A part of the reason for the fire precautions taken in the construction of high rise accommodation – particularly in exit and escape corridors and stairs - is that occupants cannot be expected to utilise escape through windows above the first floor and that fire service ladders cannot usually reach beyond the third floor of a block to effect a rescue.

If adequate smoke alarm systems are installed in each flat of a block to alert occupants to fires in a timely fashion, it would seem that blocks of flats are as safe as most stand-alone dwellings and in many cases, safer.

The Complete Fire Safety Management Platform is the only fully comprehensive online fire risk assessment and fire risk management platform. Our aim, at CFSM, is to make the process of becoming fire safe, straightforward and, to use our expertise in fire risk assessment and fire safety management to guide you through each step, resulting in your premises meeting all legal, insurance and ethical fire safety considerations.

If you are interested in knowing more about this fully supported route to fire safety, please contact Peter Gyere on 0208 668 8663.