Shropshire tower blocks 'well managed' says fire boss

Shropshire's deputy chief fire officer, Andy Johnson has also given insight into what it is like to fight a blaze like the one in London, which broke out on Wednesday, which is so far to believed to have killed 12 people, though the number is expected to rise and a number of people are still missing.

He has said Shropshire has only four buildings which are classed as a high rise, all in Telford, and that the fire service has been working with the owners to ensure they are safe.

So how do you battle a blaze like the one in Kensington?

Mr Johnson said: "It is very difficult to do so, that is not what you typically expect to turn up to when you get a high rise fire.

"You'd expect a fire to be contained within the flat of origin. Turning up to something like that you'd be calling on as many resources as you could possibly get there.

"The difficult bit is prioritising the use of the limited resources that you'll have there in the first instance and planning for how you're going to deploy the resources that will be on your back very quickly.

"The evacuation plan or to stay safe inside flats would be specific to each of the blocks of flats so the fire measures that are in place would have been risk assessed and considered the fire should be contained between flat of origin or room of origin for one hour which should give enough time for emergency services to respond and then if it is required residents from other flats are required to evacuate then that would give emergency services time to support that evacuation out."

Mr Johnson said that the most important thing for firefighters would be the equipment they are using.

He said: "The standard training would be just our basic training, through normal breathing apparatus would be the key thing because this is a very hard, very hot, very hazardous incident our firefighters are being put in to and they are dependant on the equipment that they've got and being able to deploy that equipment as quickly and efficiently as possible including the internal safety systems should be built into these buildings, dry rises and such like, so they don't have to carry up as much hose."

The four tower block buildings in Shropshire are all owned by the Wrekin Housing Trust and three are lived in.

Mr Johnson added: "There are four what we would deem as high rise. We are not given a specific number of floors, it is above the height that our normal equipment would be able to deal with, above the height our aerial ladder platforms that we have based in Telford and Shrewsbury deal with, in our case that is above eight floors and we have four of those residential properties within Shropshire, all over in Telford, three are currently inhabited, the other, Manor Heights in Hadley, is not in use.

"Yes, our ongoing inspection regime with the owner, the Wrekin Housing Trust in all three cases where the buildings are occupied, is very good, we inspect on a regular basis.

"As a consequence we have obviously had communication with the WHT and offered our support in terms of making sure residents are reassured about the appropriate processes that are in place and are confident they are being well managed in Shropshire."

Meanwhile, West Midlands Fire Service chief officer has offered support to those affected by the London fire, Phil Loach, said: “The images emerging from the scene are truly horrific. Our hearts go out to the many victims.

“Fires in high-rise blocks are among the most challenging and hostile incidents we can expect to deal with. Our thoughts are with our London Fire Brigade colleagues and all emergency responders involved in this major incident.

“Our firefighters train regularly to be able to respond to such calls within five minutes, then to put their training and skills into action as safely and as effectively as possible.

“We work closely with the landlords and owners of tower blocks throughout the West Midlands to help them do all they can to ensure the safety of people who live or work in them.

"Our commitment to preventing fires in people’s homes means the numbers of such incidents are significantly fewer, but these tragic events show that their severity and impact can still be major.

“There are nearly 1,000 residential buildings in the West Midlands with four storeys or more and more than half of them have at least eight storeys.

“It is vitally important that anyone who lives or works in a high-rise building makes sure they know their building’s specific escape plan, which should be clearly and regularly communicated by the owner or landlord.”