The fire door that is supposed to be self-closing remains open - allowing flames and smoke to penetrate the building.
Brent Council reacts on Twitter to John's first letter - January 18th, 2022
UPDATE February 2nd 2022
Dear Editor,
Will Brent Housing ever carry out the urgent repair to the self-closing fire door on the 3rd Floor at William Dunbar House, South Kilburn?
As readers of WM know, I have been trying to get the council to fix the Fire door on the 3rd floor for a long time, which compromises my safety and that of everyone living in the block.
Last night there was a serious fire in Poplar on the 8th floor of a tower block which required an emergency evacuation, with some residents escaping via an internal fire escape.
If a fire was to break out on the 3rd floor of my block and smoke and flames escaped from the flat where the fire was, it would quickly travel out the open fire door into our only internal fire escape, leaving everyone living in the block trapped with possible fatal consequences.
Nobody can ever predict when a fire might break out in their home, so I am calling on Brent Council for one last time to repair the fire door to ensure the safety of everyone living there.
Finally, the council are breaking the law, as The Fire Safety Order (2005) updated in 2021 says "landlords have a duty of care to protect any residents living in William Dunbar House" but for some reasons known only to themselves, they have chosen to break the law by not repairing the fire door.
Thank you
John Healy.
Here is a reminder of Brent Council's undertaking following the Grenfell disaster
And here is the link to the manufacturer's statement on maintenance:
https://www.gerdasecurity.co.uk/productsandservices/communal-fire-doorsets/maintenance.aspx
5 comments:
What are Kilburn cllrs doing about this???
An excellent issue for WM to highlight until these doors are repaired and kept repaired. But this issue also highlights how many many towers management will likely ignore and allow these same risks in other towers no problem- an issue of a culture of no consequences surrounding development.
New 'Build and GO' towers so council loved which will soon be full of children housed with no gardens and no public open space parks anywhere near to them by dystopian design. Imagine lockdowns lived at 26 storeys another very real possibility just like escalating numbers of tower fires......
Dear David (1 February at 18:49),
I agree.
'Imagine lockdowns lived at 26 storeys' ... especially when there is a better alternative!
Look out for a "guest blog" I have written (Council Housing and Common Sense), which I hope that Martin will be able to publish tomorrow.
We all need to put pressure on Brent's elected councillors to make better decisions, or at least to be honest and open about their justification for them, if they believe the ones they have made are right.
If councillors don't do that, they don't deserve our votes.
We should all use our votes, and encourage others to do the same, in the May local elections, in support of candidates who will listen to the people they are supposed to represent, and act and make decisions in the best interests of local people.
Anonymous at 18.31 Cllr Conneely did take i up but Johnn has heard nothing further:
Dear all
I am writing regarding the below resident who has been reporting a fire door which does not self close in line with fire regulations on the third floor of William Dunbar house.
The resident has been reporting this repair without resolution for 4 years. This clearly needs to be repaired immediately.
Could you let me & the resident know what the timescale for getting this repair completed urgently will be. I have included the residents email for your convenience.
Could you also let me know what went wrong in this case that this residents serious repair report was not actioned swiftly and why the resident was not kept clearly updated. Residents are key in helping us keep buildings and occupants safe and their reports need to be taken seriously.
Regards;
Cllr Rita Conneely
Maybe there could be an independent website where Brent tower residents can download pictures/ videos of non functioning fire doors? A reference point and a just in case safeguard. Easy to get fire door repairs works done en mass too. It could even employ someone using National Lottery Funding?
I guess government much prefers neglecting for the (very expensive for service charges) Building Inspector route to basic safety at home rights being towers ever achieved.
Kilburn councillors all are AWOL regarding South Kilburn disaster area. They will be around for your vote in May apparently and then disappear again when building starts to destroy Brent Kilburns only park sized park (South Kilburn Public Open Space) later in 2022.
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