§ Mr. Craigenasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, following the fire on the 25th floor of a multi-storey block in Wyndford estate, Glasgow, on 28 January. he will review the fire precaution requirements in multi-storey blocks, including access, lifts and water pressure for fire tenders; and if he is satisfied that there is adequate monitoring of safety appliances in such properties, in view of their being subject to vandalism.
§ Mr. RifkindI understand that in the course of tackling this fire, in which, regrettably, one person died, firemen experienced a problem because of low water pressure in the building's wet riser but this did not affect the rescue operations and was not considered to have any appreciable adverse effect on dealing with the fire, which was confined to the flat of origin. Although the precise cause of the problem with the wet riser is not yet known there is no indication that vandalism was a factor.
The current building standards regulations provide inter alia for fire precautions, including fire mains, lifts and access, in multi-storey flats, and responsibility for maintaining safety equipment rests with the owners. I understand that the equipment in the flats in question is checked weekly and I have no reason to believe that monitoring of fire safety appliances generally is not satisfactory.
The building standards regulations are under constant review and new regulations, which revise the provision for some aspects of fire precautions, including access, lifts and fire mains, were published in December and come into operation in March 1982.