A fire safety expert has slammed Basildon Council members for their improvement works on an estate which has seen ten fires in the past decade.
In a report for the BBC’s regional programme Inside Out, fire safety expert Arnold Tarling said that cladding being installed by the council in the Felmores Estate offers “no known fire protection.”
The Essex estate is mostly timber framed and timber clad, which has resulted in a seemingly large number of fires on the estate. Recently, a fire in July ended with two women having to be rescued from a fire in their flat, which also damaged neighbouring flats. Firefighters said the flat was “100 percent alight” by the time they arrived on the scene. In 2009 one fire destroyed eight properties in the estate.
All of this combined has led to a campaign from residents to improve the fire protection measures in the buildings, something Basildon Council has responded to. It claims the replacement cladding — due to be installed from October — will offer 75 minutes of fire protection and is just part of a wider plan to improve fire-control measures on the estate. Sprinkler systems, improved electrical systems and “regular” checks are also part of the council’s strategy to prevent and control blazes.
But Tarling has said that the proposed replacement cladding amounts to nothing more than a “rain screen,” which will “act as a chimney encouraging the fire to spread upwards.” He continued:
It would have been far better to have removed the cladding and asbestos cement panels, fixed an external quality fire-rated board, insulated with a mineral wool and then rendered on mesh.
In April 2012, councillors were forced to deny that delays to fire safety improvement works had contributed to a blaze that left four houses damaged and two people being treated for smoke inhalation. Following the 2009 blaze which destroyed eight properties, the fire service recommended treating the timber in a fire-resistant coating in order to reduce the spread of fire. But this work, initially scheduled for 2011, was delayed while councillors considered new energy-efficient cladding materials — for which they would be able to received additional funding.
In September 2013 the works to replace the cladding are still yet to begin. This seems like a fairly impressive delay.
During the past few weeks residents have been consulted on their colour choices for the new cladding, with works due to begin next month and be completed by June 2014. Councillor Phil Turner said in a statement:
The homes in Felmores have been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently following July’s fire in Bockingham Green. Before this event it was always the council’s intention to replace the cladding on the homes here and I am pleased to see we are seeing progress.
There is one more piece of negative news to add to the pile, then, Mr. Turner. The BBC programme will be shown tonight in the East region and will be available nationally on BBC iPlayer shortly afterwards.
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@Robert Brown, if this place has gone up that many times have they been able to identify a source for the fires? I read why it spreads so quickly, and how there is no suppression systems but that just makes me more curious as to what the cause is. Sure it doesnt make sense to keep rebuilding if you are not going to change anything to learn from past mistakes but really when does fire suppression and prevention become a priority?
Well it is criminal negligence on part of the council. It is amazing that it took them 10 long years and 10 blazes to understand the need of fire safety measures. What adds to their apathy is that replacement works are yet to begin even two months after 10th fire. Does it make any sense?
@ JonathanL, I noticed the same thing in the story. Even the Councillor didn’t mention the common reasons of so many fires. It’s understandable that timber frame and timber clad can catch fire easily and fire spreads rapidly but timber still needs to be ignited to catch fire. It is very important to know what set them on fire every time before moving on to taking other measures.
Well they are undertaking ‘electrical’ works as well, so possibly faulty electrics. I’ve not looked into all of the causes of the various fires, but it would be useful to know, admittedly.
I can’t say myself whether it is criminal, certainly there’s no such investigation, but I can certainly understand the concern of residents.
Another approach they are taking is training people in fire safety. But it’s a tricky position to be in — essentially blaming the residents — when the fire protection admittedly still requires work. The key thing is, these fires should not be spreading so easily from the flat they started in
You made a very good point. Making random improvements to fire safety would not help much unless there is a clearcut understanding of the causes for these fires and addressing these causes with the right and cost-effective measures.
Education of residents would be a relatively cost-effective remedial action, but could risk scaremongering. Not as much as fires happening repeatedly though, granted…
There has been a Ventilated Fire Barrier available for the last couple of years , it offers ventilation but expands to close of the cavity in the event of a fire. It is fully fire tested in timber frame/timber clad buildings .
I wonder whether Basildon Council has looked at that or not?
As mentioned inprevious replies, there have been products specifically developed for exactly this type of cladding scenario, which allow full ventilation of the cavity (to prevent rot and damp) yet fully seal the cavity to prevent fire spread. There has been recent work carried out by the Building research establishment with timber constructions and these “Intumescent ventilated fire barriers” are shown to be 100% effective in timber clad systems. The products are already used widely and are not expensive, so I would have thought that Basildon Council would be fully aware of this, as it sounds like the answer to the… Read more »
The product looks to be ideal , lets hope it gets used on this project .
Really really does sound like the ideal solution. I wonder if the issue is around the fact they were able to get funding for installing more sustainable materials, then?
I am sure that the low carbon nature of the constructions has had an influence, this just means that the fire protection of wall cavities and other issues like service penetrations needs to be carefully focussed upon. The solutions already exist but they do need to be used.
Again not exactly rocket science to overcome the fire-in-a-chimney issue, however once there has been a (small local) fire and the intumescence has reacted, then there is no through ventilation to help prevent the timber rotting.Needs a lot more educating residents about the dangers, and monitoring, of rubbish build-up under the edge of the timber cladding at ground level and discarding of cigarettes, including from windows above. It might be worth considering the installation of a fine perforated or mesh screen around the lower edge of the timber (and extending some distance downwards) to quench any small fires and prevent… Read more »