Wednesday 11 February 2004 - News - Fire safety
Prime Minister pressed over fire sprinklers
The case for forcing
properties built to house vulnerable people to include fire sprinkler
systems received cautious backing from the Prime Minister today.
Tony Blair told MPs there "may well be a case" for a change in building regulations to improve fire safety in such properties. But although he sent his condolences to the family of three young girls killed in a house fire at the weekend, he signalled that extending the rules to all properties was less likely.
The issue was raised at question time by Labour MP Peter Pike, MP for the area where the three sisters were killed despite their mother's desperate attempts to rescue them. The Burnley MP told the Prime Minister that Lancashire's chief fire officer was backing a newspaper campaign to improve fire safety regulations.
Mr Blair said the Government had commissioned the Building Research Establishment to investigate the effectiveness of sprinkler systems in tackling fires in residential properties.
"The results of this work are being published this week and are being fed into the review of the fire safety aspects of the building regulations which is currently under way. We are going to have a look at this. We can take forward any lessons and indications from local people and the fire services as to what they think.
"There may well be a case for altering this in respect of properties where particularly vulnerable people are housed. Whether that then means you extend that even further is a more difficult question."
The question of putting sprinklers in buildings used to house vulnerable people was given more prominence following the deaths of 14 people after a blaze at the Rosepark Nursing Home in Uddingston, near Glasgow earlier this month.
Max Herd
Tony Blair told MPs there "may well be a case" for a change in building regulations to improve fire safety in such properties. But although he sent his condolences to the family of three young girls killed in a house fire at the weekend, he signalled that extending the rules to all properties was less likely.
The issue was raised at question time by Labour MP Peter Pike, MP for the area where the three sisters were killed despite their mother's desperate attempts to rescue them. The Burnley MP told the Prime Minister that Lancashire's chief fire officer was backing a newspaper campaign to improve fire safety regulations.
Mr Blair said the Government had commissioned the Building Research Establishment to investigate the effectiveness of sprinkler systems in tackling fires in residential properties.
"The results of this work are being published this week and are being fed into the review of the fire safety aspects of the building regulations which is currently under way. We are going to have a look at this. We can take forward any lessons and indications from local people and the fire services as to what they think.
"There may well be a case for altering this in respect of properties where particularly vulnerable people are housed. Whether that then means you extend that even further is a more difficult question."
The question of putting sprinklers in buildings used to house vulnerable people was given more prominence following the deaths of 14 people after a blaze at the Rosepark Nursing Home in Uddingston, near Glasgow earlier this month.
Max Herd