Housing fire safety FAQs

Yes. All City of London tenants’ homes are currently part of a programme of electrical testing and rewiring. As part of that programme, hard-wired fire detectors are being installed.

In line with normal practice for purpose built residential blocks, we operate a ‘stay put’ strategy and therefore generally, we do not fit fire alarms in communal parts and fire drills are not required.  There is an exception to this rule in Great Arthur House where a fire alarm has been fitted.

If there is a fire within your home:

• Leave immediately closing the door behind you
• Dial 999 for the fire brigade
• Shout fire to alert other people

If there is a fire outside your home:

• Dial 999
• It is usually safer to stay in your home until you can be safely evacuated by fire fighters
• If smoke or flames enter your home leave at once and close the door behind you
• Always use the stairs.

Fire extinguishers are not provided in the communal areas of the building. We cannot, and would not, expect residents to fight fires.

We do not provide equipment in people’s homes however, advice on fire safety in the home is provided in the Tenancy Agreement and handbook pack that all tenants receive. The London Fire Brigade will also carry out free home fire safety visits.

Smoking is prohibited in the common parts of our buildings. There is a ‘No Smoking’ sign displayed in the ground floor lift lobby of all our blocks. If you smoke inside your home, please ensure you put cigarettes out properly.

We have a programme of fitting and maintaining emergency lighting in our blocks of flats. Emergency lighting is installed and maintained to ensure there are adequate levels of lighting in the event of a power failure, particularly where there is a change of level or change of direction. Emergency lighting typically provides up to three hours of low-level lighting to allow passage via an escape route in the event of an emergency. The emergency lights should automatically come on when the power fails and does not require any manual operation.

Fire Action Notices are displayed in the ground floor lobby of every block of flats and residents should read and familiarise themselves with them. Regular inspections are carried out by Estate Services but if you see any damage to these signs, this should be reported to the estate office or by email to Estate Services.

Additional signs are to be provided on every floor warning residents to not use the lifts in the event of a fire.

The fire brigade does not want you fighting a potentially dangerous fire yourself.

If you discover a fire in your home, the best thing to do is leave the building immediately and call the emergency services on 999.

A range of fire safety inspections of your block are carried out on a regular basis, by trained estate services officers. This includes:

• Checks to ensure that no combustible materials such as rubbish are stored in corridors and communal areas.
• Checks to ensure nothing is obstructing means of escape and communal areas such as bikes, prams etc.
• Inspection of the block and all fire doors to ensure they are in good repair and functioning correctly.
• Inspection of fire equipment e.g. dry risers.

The City of London is legally required to carry out FRAs which cover the communal areas of the block (not individual properties). Flat entrance doors form part of the protection to the common escape routes, so these are included in the assessment. The purpose of the assessment is to evaluate the risk to people from fire, considering existing fire safety measures, to determine whether additional measures are necessary. 

Areas covered by the FRA’s include: 

• Measures to reduce the risk of fire and the risk of the spread of fire.
• Means of escape from fire.
• Measures to ensure that escape routes can be safely and effectively used.
• An emergency plan, including procedures for residents in the event of a fire.
• Measures to mitigate the effects of fire.

The programme of FRAs is undertaken for all our blocks in by an independent expert The recommendations made must be acted upon to ensure the highest standard of fire safety.

Yes, they can be found on the Fire Risk Assessments webpage, or on your Estate webpage. If you do not, or someone you know does not, have good access to the internet, please ask your estate team to print a copy for you/them.