HOW CHURCHES FIRE & SECURTIY HELP TO SAVE LIVES
Introduction
Churches Fire & Security are proud to provide the very best in fire protection services. Our company vigilantly service in accordance to the British Standards to ensure continued compliance for each of our sites. We take our responsibilities extremely seriously and there is nothing more rewarding to us than knowing the work we have done has helped save lives. An example of this can be seen through the Leafield Tower Block case, during which a blaze broke out on the 8th floor of the block in Moortown.
Overview
At approximately 5:00am on the 15th of February, fire crews from Leeds and the surrounding areas attended the Leafield site to tackle a serious blaze. Ten appliances were scrambled to the scene and it was reported that 50 firefighters worked to tackle the flames.
Technician Stuart Woods had most recently attended the site for the annual major dry riser service and had identified issues with the valve. During the visit, this was replaced along with some washers and missing landing valve signs. In the emergency situation, our equipment proved itself to be invaluable for firefighting efforts. It was reported that the ‘dry risers worked and were serviced in line with national requirements and guidelines.’
outcome
Despite the severity of the fire, no one was seriously injured and the fire service stated that the smoke spread was limited only to the flat directly above the fire, due to open windows. LCC fire safety manager’s incident report stated, ’the fire stopping undertaken previously proved its worth and prevented further smoke spread to neighbouring flats, to the sides and above.’
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service reported that, ‘one male occupier of the flat suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to hospital by ambulance.’ Another resident who lived in the flat above, later referred himself to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation; both were soon discharged.
The Senior Technical Commercial Officer at Leeds Council was very appreciative to our engineer, Stuart, for his constant updates on progress across their sites, and wanted to pass on his thanks to everyone. He commented, ‘As Stuart pointed out, it is imperative that these fire equipment works are in place. Down to the continued good work from all, there was, thankfully, no loss of life.’
The cause of the fire is still being investigated, but initial findings are pointing to an electric oil filled heater as the origin.
