§ Sir R. Russellasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give particulars of the three most costly fires of 1964, as mentioned in the Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services, which accounted for a loss of £9,326,000, specifying especially their causes, and whether they obtained a good hold before the brigade arrived.
§ Mr. George ThomasThe fires in question occurred at Government-occupied warehouse and office premises at 90–94 Gosforth Street, Coventry, on 15th June, when the estimated loss was £2.9 million; at the British Railways Goods Depot, Bishopsgate, London, on 5th December, when the estimated loss was £5 million; and at Winthrop Laboratories, Edgefield Avenue, Fawdon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on 10th December, when the estimated loss was over £1.4 million. In each case the fire brigade 239W arrived four minutes after being summoned, but the fire had by then gained a strong hold. Enquiries have failed to establish the cause of these fires.
§ Sir R. Russellasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the main types and causes of the 829 fires in property, other than the three most costly fires, which accounted for 62.4 per cent of the total loss due to fires in 1964, referred to in the Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services.
§ Mr. George ThomasI regret that an analysis of the causes of these particular fires, and of the types of premises in which they occurred, is not readily available.
§ Sir R. Russellasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give examples of the carelessness and negligence which caused fires in 1964, as referred to in the Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services.
§ Mr. George ThomasExamples of carelessness and negligence are as follows:
Careless disposal of smoking material.
Inadequate control over the burning of rubbish or failure to extinguish such fires before leaving.
Insufficient maintenance of heating appliances and flues.
Insufficient maintenance of electric wiring and electrical equipment; the use of "temporary" electric wiring and defective equipment.
Introduction of potential sources of ignition into flammable atmospheres, or the escape of flammable vapours to reach a flame or spark.
Storage of combustible materials in too close proximity to a source of heat (steam pipe, flue pipe, space heating appliances, etc.).
Carelessness and misuse of blow-lamps and of cutting and welding apparatus near unscreened combustible materials.
Failure to remove combustible waste and packing materials to a safe place pending disposal.