Posted on 04/14/2011 10:05:32 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Fire extinguishers could be removed from communal areas in flats throughout the country because they are a safety hazard, it has emerged.
The life-saving devices encourage untrained people to fight a fire rather than leave the building, risk assessors in Bournemouth decided.
There are fears that their recommendation, which has seen the extinguishers ripped out of several private, high-rise flats in the town, could set a national precedent.
Under the Fire Safety Order of 2005, fire assessments must be carried out to 'eliminate or reduce risk as is reasonably practical'.
But Mike Edwards, who lives in one of the blocks, said he was 'absolutely staggered' that risk experts thought it a safe decision.
'They are worried we will point them in the wrong direction or use the wrong extinguishers,' he said. 'But if you are trapped in a burning building, you will work out how to use one.'
The 61-year-old claimed his neighbours were now worried sick that a fire could break out.
Dorset Fire and Rescue defended the move, saying: 'Obviously, in some cases, an extinguisher could come in useful but, with new building regulations, every escape route should be completely fireproof.'
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents backed their removal because different extinguishers should be used on different types of fire.
But the Department for Communities and Local Government denied it would see them removed from all flats.
'Fire and safety regulations make clear that appropriate safety equipment must be provided,' said a spokesman.
Independent health and safety consultant Anthony Petitt suggested training people in their use – 'otherwise it's just putting people at risk'.
Flats: Brit apartments. Just like you don’t always say “Apartment BLOCK”, why would a Brit call the same style structure “a group of flats” when referring to something we all are assumed to understand when the adjective “communal area” is added?
We have reached the point where the speed of thought is challenged by the expansion rate of boundless stupidity.
You need to seriously rethink the water idea. That idea is so bad, I sent this link to all of my friends and relatives!!!!
Monty Python was not a comedian, he was a prophet.
Yep. My thought was that if they simply purged the oxygen from the escape routes, it would be much more difficult to have fires in them...(not much for human survival, but...)
“How many large fires have been avoided by the quick use of a nearby extinguisher?”
When my toaster oven burst into flames I used one that had been on the wall for five years. Kept me from having to grab the darn oven and toss it into the sink.
Or just planning to extinguish an fires on their own without asking permission first.
Or, as the great Winston once said, “All we have to fear is fire itself ...”
Bitch, bitch, bitch!
The writer did not refer to “apartment buildings”, or “communal areas in apartment buildings”.
The writer used “flats”, the plural of the singular “flat”. Using the plural does not refer to the “apartment building” but to ALL of “the flats”, individually.
“The flats” do not each have a communal “foyer”, the building they are in may. “The flats” do not each have “common hallways” within them; the building they are in may. “The flats” do not each have a “front entrance” from the street; the building they are in may. Etc., Etc.
Communal areas are WITHIN the apartment building that contains “the flats”, not within “the flats” themselves.
The reporter mis-spoke; likely from a poor education.
Fire extinguishers could be removed from communal areas in flats throughout the country because they are a safety hazard, it has emerged. The life-saving devices encourage untrained people to fight a fire rather than leave the building, risk assessors in Bournemouth decided
Come on, FRiend. The writer "missed" (in your opinion) the qualifying phrase "group of". Anyone who has spent enough time in England to go out with natives knows that "flats" can mean the individual units OR the entire building, or even the entire street.
If one is so obtuse as to confuse flats, buildings, and communal space, we really are beyond help. If we are so provincial that slight differences in dialect are reason for cries of "misinformation", what is the point of dialogue?
Good grief.
LOL I see John Cleese as the average Brit and the Portuguese guy as the bureaucratic moron who comes up with rules like these. It’s past time for a revolt.
LOL! Thanks Robert A. Cook, PE.
Bad idea. If the grease catches fire, put a lid or cookie sheet on top to smother it. All water will do is give you a bigger fire.
What ever you do, don’t try and carry it outside while it is burning. We ran a guy to the burn center with 2nd degree burns last night.
“They are worried we will point them in the wrong direction or use the wrong extinguishers,’ he said.”
Funny thing is your most common extinguishers (ABC) will put out every thing except burning metals (D) like magnesium.
OMG ! I'm laughing my ass off about that. Sounds so much classier than OSHA.
“Independent health and safety consultant Anthony Petitt suggested training people in their use – ‘otherwise it’s just putting people at risk’.”
Some merit to that statement. One of the demonstrations I do in an extinguisher class is to put the nozzle right up next to the water in the burn pan (you float a little fuel on top of the water while doing the live fire) and blast water all over and then ask “what if that was burning fuel?”
A common ABC dry chemical extinguisher has 195psi in it.
leftist logic, hard at work killing people worldwide for 200 years. “It’s for your own good!”
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