Mr. Farrasked the Secretary of State for Defence what conclusions he has drawn from his review of fire precautions in the three services.
Mr. StanleyThe report makes it clear that until the recent fire at Donnington, loss by fire in Ministry of Defence property was for many years exceptionally low. It is also clear, however, that the risk of heavy loss by fire has increased over recent years largely due to modern methods of storage designed to make the most economical use of space, manpower and machinery. This development is not peculiar to the Ministry of Defence, or to the public sector, or indeed to this country.
There are a number of ways of reducing the risk including, in particular, the dispersal of the more valuable stocks and the compartmentation of buildings were it is feasible to do so. The use of advanced detection and suppression systems can also be of value although further development is needed to make them adequately effective in buildings stacked intensively with very high racking. All these methods are expensive and need to be considered on a site by site basis taking into account not only the financial loss which might result from a fire but also the effect the fire might have on our operational readiness. Each of the three Services is now undertaking a reassessment of the distribution and fire protection of high value and operationally essential stores.
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