Hundreds of thousands of people who live in tower blocks should be prepared to evacuate in the event of a fire, according to a key demand made by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the chair of the Grenfell Tower public inquiry.
In what fire safety experts said would be a significant change to the default advice for most tower blocks that residents should stay put, he told ministers to develop national guidelines for total or partial evacuation of towers and to make it illegal for owners and managers of high-rise buildings not to draw up evacuation plans.
There was no contingency plan to evacuate Grenfell, and when the order finally came it was too late for many people who subsequently died. There was no alarm or PA system to broadcast an evacuation instruction to residents, and firefighters had to lend their breathing apparatus kits to fleeing residents because they did not have specialist evacuation equipment such as smoke hoods.
Moore-Bick said new guidelines were needed, which should include ways to protect fire exit routes and procedures for evacuating people who are unable to use the stairs or may require assistance, such as disabled people, older people and young children.
The retired high court judge said all tower blocks should be fitted with speakers or sirens to alert residents to get out and fire brigades should undergo training for evacuations. The London fire brigade said this month it had not carried out an evacuation drill on a residential tower since Grenfell.
Most of the UK’s estimated 4,000 high-rise apartment blocks over 18 metres tall have a “stay put” strategy based on the theory that the buildings are designed to contain fires within a single flat or at least a manageable zone. It is supposed to mean it is safer to keep people in their homes rather than order an evacuation from buildings that are not designed for it.
Moore-Bick also recommended that “the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to prepare personal emergency evacuation plans for all residents whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised (such as persons with reduced mobility or cognition)”.
Arnold Tarling, a fire safety expert, said: “This is a big change to how we respond. But single-staircase tower blocks are not suitable for immediate evacuation. You will have people tripping over, you will have all the ill and toddlers, so how are they going to get out of there safely?”
He also questioned whether cash-strapped fire and rescue authorities would have the resources to safely evacuate buildings. “With all the cuts, do they have enough equipment to evacuate a block?” he said, adding that many did not have rescue lifts or second staircases.
The government said it was considering all of Moore-Bick’s proposals and this week it announced a cross-departmental steering group to review stay put policies and to assess what to do if evacuation was needed.
Officials stressed that stay put remained the safest strategy for many towers, especially those not designed for mass evacuations.
