London Fire Brigade

The LFB could do more by way of lobbying developers and planning authorities to prevent "mega" structures and put more in place with regards to prevention at the time of planning. London was greatly affected by the "great fire", allegedly started at Pudding Mill Lane. The overly ambitious and dense OVER-building of London, supported by the current and previous mayor, is already creating great fire AND flooding risks, due to blatant disregard of the way of nature.
The LFB could prove instrumental in lobbying for a much more low-density and considerate development throughout and an unsustainably overpopulated London (population in 1990: 6M, 2021: near 11M)

The Government should require all rental dwellings to have a Smoke Alarm connected to the mains.
With the greatest will in the world, it is only too easy to say we will buy a battery tomorrow and of course meanwhile your home could burn down.
It is also in the interest of the owners, as surely they wouldn't want to loose their property?
I have no idea why this has not been implemented, as it is basic and it would save lives.

The London Fire Brigade is offering a fantastic service. They need to receive more funding in order to enable them to offer more outreach services for example. They will also need to get involved in all planning decisions for high rise buildings and potentially all residential buildings, not only concerning their cladding but also all other aspects of fire safety. This is potentially a very wide area of service that the LFB would be best qualified to provide if they had the necessary funding.

There is no doubt in my mind that the London Fire Brigade is a magnificent service with highly trained, devoted staff.
I feel that they should be looking at ways and means to engage and educate communities. The first important message to get across would be to ensure that every home has a smoke detector. The next message would be to ensure that every property has fire doors and thirdly, how to use 999 when reporting a fire which needs fire brigade help.

I hi I by being more visible at local time events, have more open days.

I see some comments on the use of Sirens and the feeling that they are used excessivley. The perception that vehicles can rush through streets silently is a concern the sirens are an audiable warning to alert people that cautionary action should be taken as emergency vehicles are approaching possibly at speed. It would I believe raise Killed and Seriously injured figures in London alarmingly if restrictions were placed on emergency vehicles using warning sirens.

I would like the LFB to be able to inspect the illegal multiple occupancy hostels that have sprung up around my local area. The London Borough of Merton turns a blind eye to landlords buying up traditional family homes and then turning them into what amount to hostels. It is not uncommon to see around 8 -10 men living in them for days at a time. You can see mattresses on the floors. None of these homes are fitted with fire doors or sprinklers. Highly flammable piles of rubbish outside are a tell tale sign of what is going on. The council makes no effort to do anything about this. These young men are possibly here illegally, that is not my point they could be living in fire traps. If the LFB were able to inspect these properties when they were tipped off then something could be done about them before we have a tragedy.

More home visits to advise on fire alarms and escape routes as well as where necessary replace/install new fire alarms (even if this needs to be done at a small charge).

First Londoners need to know what the LFB does, or could do. Community outreach, drop-in sessions and open days at local stations, holding fora in local libraries and community centres, online events.

Fires like Grenfell remind us of the importance of the fire brigade and the importance of prevention and preparation over putting out fires. LFB should focus on advising communities and those living in high rises, not just the companies that run them, as these companies only care about making a profit. Things like stressing the importance of he king smoke alarms, CO alarms, and ensuring exit routes are not blocked.

Additionally, I would like to see more of a presence in schools, explaining what you do to children, as well as having more grown up conversations with those in secondary school to talk about the importance of fire safety.

For my community, things like speed awareness on roads, encouraging less smoking in flats, and pressure on government to make kitchens in London larger, so accidents are less likely to occur.