London Fire Brigade offers free fire home safety checks by qualified firefighters

Following the tragic death of a Lambeth council tenant in a fire at her flat in Petrel Court, West Norwood, Thurlow Park Ward Councillor John Whelan is calling for home fire safety checks on neighbouring properties.

Cllr Whelan, a former member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, says:  “Naturally, my first thoughts are with the family after this tragic death.  It is a miracle that her teenage daughter escaped helped to safety by a hero.

“However, it is vital that all the neighbouring properties on the Rosendale Gardens Estate are checked to ensure they have working smoke detectors.  This is an old Lambeth estate built in the 1950s — known locally as “The Birdies” — with a lot of elderly and frail residents and there is a back log of maintenance jobs.

“I have urged the London Fire Brigade and Lambeth Council to work together to raise awareness of the importance of having operational smoke detectors preferably hard wired and not operated by batteries.  The London Fire Brigade offers free fire home safety checks by qualified firefighters and if something positive emerges from this tragedy it could be that other lives are not put at risk.”

However, Councillor Whelan says that only a fortnight ago a tenant on the Rosendale Gardens estate, where fire killed a 35-year-old woman on November 15, came to his weekly advice centre to complain about a “green light” shining from her smoke detector.

“She told me she had disconnected the smoke detector by removing the batteries,” he says.

“I urged her to contact the London Fire Brigade for a free home fire safety check and will now double check that this has happened.”