Firefighters forced to retreat in Leeds farm fire
Fire crews had to pull back as they attempted to tackle a barn blaze in Temple Newsam, East Leeds last Sunday due to the risks posed by asbestos.
The situation arose after the roof of the barn, located in the grounds of a historic property, collapsed, which caused asbestos to fall into the flames.
A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Fire Service said:
“The majority of the roof was not asbestos but there was asbestos cement which contaminated the straw.
“In addition the site is structurally unsafe. So the firefighters could not go in to put the fire out because of the asbestos and because the building is unsafe.”
The fire began on the Sunday but was still being controlled by firefighters on Thursday.
At the height of the blaze, fire crews from nine West Yorkshire fire stations were involved in tackling this fire.
A Leeds City Council spokesman said:
“The fire is under control but is still active and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service remain at the scene.
“Part of the roof structure of the barn did contain some asbestos which has been assessed and is of low-risk grade, and all parties involved are proceeding with the necessary caution to reduce the impact of the damage in order for the clean-up operation to begin as soon possible.
“The farm remains closed to the public.”
The importance of fire safety procedures in hotels
As we have reported on a number of occasions in the past, hotels are particularly susceptible to fires and due to the ever changing volume of people coming and going to and from the premises it can be a difficult task accounting for everyone at the time of an unforeseen incident like a fire.
This is why a ‘Fire Safety in Hotels’ has proved to be a popular training course for those in the hospitality industry as many fires can be avoided and this can save the business thousands of pounds in damages sustained by the building in the case of a fire.
Fire poses a unique challenge to hotel owners and the fact that many of the people present on the premises are not employees it is necessary to ensure that everybody staying at the hotel is made fully aware of the fire safety procedures you have put in place.
The course will train your staff as fire wardens and help them to understand the risks associated with working in a hotel. Through this training, you can rest assured that they will be able to carry out your instructions regarding fire safety and employ the appropriate procedures. So, if there was a fire, all guests can be accounted for, rooms can be checked as a matter of course and the evacuation can be carried out in a safe manner.
Shortage of fire risk assessors in UK
A lack of competent fire risk assessors is causing great concern amongst UK landlords says the Peabody Housing Association.
Landlords are finding it very difficult to find assessors that they can trust to carry out vital safety assessments on their properties.
The claim was made by Robert Groom, Peabody’s fire safety and emergency planning manager, at an event last month in association with the London Fire Brigade. The events main aim was to see how effectively the Regulatory Reform Order of 2005 is being enforced.
£50,000 fine for ‘Death Trap’ store
Poundstretcher Ltd has pleaded guilty to serious fire safety breaches at its Huddersfield store.
A fire safety inspector found that the store was putting its staff and customers at serious risk of injury or death due to a catalogue of safety failings at the store.
Inspectors discovered that only one fire exit was in use, but was not working properly and could actually have trapped them inside the building rather than helping them escape. Other exits that were not in use were blocked by large amounts of combustible material.
Before the failings were discovered, a risk assessment had been carried out and recommendations had been made but were not actioned at the store.
The Company has been fined £50,000 for the breaches. In the past 18 months it has also had to pay out over £20,000 for failings at other stores in Wakefield and Halifax.
The Company accepted responsibility and immediately set about rectifying all of the issues. Poundstretcher company secretary, Martin Collinson said, “We note the comments of the judge and we have to take what he said very seriously”.
Bonfire Night keeps firefighters occupied
Despite the fact that in some areas of the country such as Greater Manchester there were fewer reported fire-related incidents than in recent years, many fire crews were as busy as always.
In South Yorkshire, firefighters were called to more than 200 separate incidents across the region. Although most of these were for minor situations the control room still had to deal with plenty of calls.
A spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said:
“The majority of these were small jobs, controlling bonfires that had got out of control, small fires caused by fireworks and so on.
“It all kept our crews very busy but fortunately there were no really serious problems.”
Fire crews in Wales also found they were inundated with calls for help with over 70 emergency incidents across Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Neath Port Talbot over the weekend.
Firefighters had to respond to 45 outdoor fires across the region which needed to be tackled, while 30 incidents were found to be false alarms.
A spokesman for Mid and West Wales Fire Service said:
“The majority of calls were in the Aberavon area of Port Talbot and the Blaenymaes, Townhill and Hafod areas of Swansea.
“There were two incidents on Friday in the Llanelli area.
“We had 75 calls — 45 of which we took action on.”
Now Bonfire Night is over it is still important to consider fire risk, whether having a bonfire in the garden or ensuring there are working fire alarms in the home.