Fire safety

Serious fires in blocks of flats are rare but when they happen the results can be tragic. It’s best that everyone understands fire safety procedures and the rules about obstructing corridors and walkways. Please take a few minutes to read through this advice.

Buildings and the Fire Safety Strategy

Fire is a serious potential risk if not suitably managed and we set out how it achieves fire safety and resilience in the fire risk management strategy. This strategy details the framework that we use to manage the risk of fire and to deliver fire safety related works. We have created an overview document in order to:

enable residents to learn about and influence our approach to fire safety
inform staff of our approach to fire safety, so that they can discuss with any concerned parties; and
encourage joint learning.

You can read more about our approach in the booklet below.

Our approach to Fire Safety

Preventing fires in your home - general advice

If you are a leaseholder fit smoke alarms on each floor and test them once a week. The Fire Brigade provides FREE home fire safety checks and will give you a free smoke alarm. You can book an appointment online at london-fire.gov.uk or phone them on 0800 028 44 28.
If you are a Council Tenant there should already be a smoke alarm in your flat. If not, please contact the Housing Service Centre on 020 7364 5015.
When you go to bed, make sure that you’ve closed all the internal doors.
Take care in the kitchen – most fires start here, so never leave your cooking unattended and take extra care with hot oil.
Never leave lit candles unattended.
Make sure cigarettes are stubbed out and disposed of carefully and never smoke in bed.
Don’t overload electrical sockets.
Don't overheat batteries for E-bikes and E-scooters. Incorrectly charging these batteries can start home fires. Read the Fire Brigade's guidance on how to avoid this here.
Keep matches away from children.
Do not store flammable liquids such as petrol in your home, bin store or chutes.

The London Fire Brigade have helpful fire advice in different languages here.

Advice on avoiding E-bike and E-scooter fires

Every year dozens of fires in London are started because of E-bikes and E-scooters

What to do if there is a fire

The London Fire Brigade have produced helpful short films on what to do if there is a fire in your property or block. You can watch them here.

If you live in a block of flats

If a fire breaks out in your home

If a fire breaks out in another part of your block

If you live in a house

If you live in a conversion

(A conversion is part of a house or other large building which has been converted into flats).

Leave the room where the fire is straight away, then close the door.
Tell everyone in your home to leave immediately.
Close the front door.
Do not stay behind to put the fire out.
Call the fire service - dial 999.
Wait outside and away from the building.
If safe to do so, you should alert the other residents in the premises.

If the fire breaks out in the communal parts of the conversion

If safe to do so, evacuate your property and follow the guidance above.

If it is unsafe to evacuate:

Leave the room where the fire is straight away, then close the door.
If safe to do so, ensure that other residents in your home relocate to a room not affected by the fire and smoke.
Open windows if safe to do so and put towels around gaps in doors.
If smoke enters the room, keep low, lay on the floor next to the window.
If possible, ensure each occupant has a wet towel to protect their heads.
Call the fire service - dial 999.
Do not attempt to tackle the fire unless you have been trained to do so.

More information on fire safety is available from the Fire Brigade.

Security Grilles on front doors

We are committed to providing safe homes for residents. All blocks and homes managed by the council receive regular safety inspections and we undertake all necessary fire safety work as a priority. There are fire risk assessments in place for all residential blocks, you can access these online through an interactive map here.

We work closely with London Fire Brigade to ensure our residents can be evacuated as quickly as possible should there be an emergency. Recently this work includes measures to ensure we comply with the Fire Safety Act 2021. This is a new law that covers the use and installation of fire doors, including front doors. To comply with the new law, we are committed to a programme of replacing tenants’ front doors with ‘Secured by Design’ doors.* ‘Secured by Design’ doors fulfil both Building Control regulatory guidance and Police security guidance. You can find detailed information about these doors online here.

We know and understand why some residents fit extra security measures such as door grilles to their homes. This isn’t necessary where a ‘Secure by Design’ front door has been installed because door grilles will not provide any additional security. London Fire Brigade consider door grilles to be a substantial safety risk. It is sometimes necessary for firefighters to gain access to homes in an emergency and a security door, grille or other security measures can significantly increase how long this takes, resulting in unacceptable danger to both life and property.

Gates and grilles pose a risk to life if a fire breaks out because they can trap people in their homes. If left open, they can cause an obstruction and slow evacuation of a block. If you have a grille or gate over your front door London Fire Brigade recommends that it is always unlocked when people are home and everyone in the household (including guests) knows where a spare key is kept in case there is an emergency and they need to evacuate.

You can find London Fire Brigade’s Safety Guidance online here.

*Leaseholders living in blocks managed by the council can buy into this programme and get a new ‘Secured by Design’ door fitted by our contractors.

Grilles across walkways and internal corridors can stop people from escaping fires so they will be removed. (Exception to this rule is set out below.)

Open balconies and walkways

We will normally allow grilles on balconies and walkways for end flats, but they must only affect one property. The space behind should not be used for storage. If there is an additional grille across the flat’s front door, this must be removed. In all cases you must seek approval from your Housing Officer first.

In these cases we will write to you separately explaining the risks. In the meantime, you should prepare an escape plan. Ideally, you should be able to open grilles from the inside without a key. If not, does everyone in your home know what to do and where the keys are if they need to escape a fire?

In all other circumstances, grilles across open balconies and walkways are not allowed. Residents are responsible for removing them and will be charged if we do it.

Enclosed Balconies/Walkways

Obstructions in corridors and on open walkways above ground floor

Items placed in the corridor and on window sills must be made of materials that would not readily burn, e.g. metal, ceramic, porcelain and must not cause an obstruction or hazard of any type;
Plant pots, planters and the like should take up no more than one fifth of the width of a walkway or ground floor access path;
Permanent or heavy furniture and constructions are not allowed;
Portable chairs, clothes dryers and the like are allowed but must not obstruct the walkway and should not be left out after use;
Window boxes are allowed subject to being of a suitable width;
Hanging baskets would be allowed fixed to the inside wall only;
Washing lines will only be allowed where they are attached to back walls and do not cause and obstruction. Washing lines will not be allowed where they are fixed across a walkway, cause an obstruction or where they are attached to any pipes;
Bicycles and the like are not be allowed;
Hazardous items including plastic storage sheds are not be allowed.

This advice will help to protect you and your family from the risk of fire

External wall insulation

Fire safe doors

All flats in blocks which have a front door opening onto a fire escape route need to have a fire compliant front door and door frame which is resistant to smoke and fire for 30 minutes to keep residents safe. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 covers the common areas of blocks of flats (lobbies/stairs/landings) and is designed to protect occupants of flats against the risk of fire.

We have been providing fire safe front doors and door frames to tenants and leaseholders will be aware from their lease that their front door and door frame is their responsibility. We have provided some information on how to check if your front door is fire safe.

read a letter from Fire Brigade Borough Commander Steve Dudeney to leaseholders detailing the importance of fire safe doors and frames.