FEATURE Fire safety Learning lessons after Liverpool Parking professionals have been urged to learn lessons in the aftermath of a serious fire in the multi-storey car park at Liverpools Waterfront last New Years Eve. The BPA convened a meeting in the city in November to help them do just that, as Andrew Bennett reports ts almost a year since a raging fire in which temperatures are thought to have exceeded 1,100C spread among cars in the multi-storey Kings Dock Car Park close to the Liverpool Echo Arena. Despite the rapid spread of the fire on New Years Eve, all users of the car park including horses competing in the busy international equestrian event at the arena were evacuated from the building and immediate area. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and Liverpool City Council have been praised for their responses. In November, the North West Group hosted a Fire Prevention and Safety event, using the blaze as a case study to look at fire prevention and response. The meeting was attended by more than 40 people, including those representing local authorities and those with an interest in car park design and emergency planning, and was chaired by Roy Tunstall, head of parking services at Liverpool City Council. I 999 response Andy Groom, group manager at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service,* described the events timeline, from the initial response to a fire in a single car parked on the third floor. Firefighters arrived within eight minutes of the first 999 call. However, the blaze escalated quickly at one stage the scene inside resembled waterfalls of fire that, despite a few hours of trying to stem the blaze, firefighters had to move outside to concentrate on containing it. The current guidelines on fire safety strategies in car parks, Approved Document B, was written in the 1960s and is consequently outdated. Its findings are based on much older car designs with a lower heat release. The 2010 BRE Report** on fire spread in car parks notes that 85 per cent of modern cars have plastic fuel tanks, which would contribute to the spread of a blaze. This report does not account for modern electric cars, with batteries that can be difficult to extinguish once ablaze. Parallels to Grenfell Structural engineer Alastair Soane is director of the Confidential Reporting on Structural Safety (CROSS) initiative, which allows for vital lessons to be learned on structural failures in buildings. He said that Liverpool had parallels to Grenfell in terms of the speed with which the fire spread. Delegates were urged to keep abreast of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, and await findings of the Hackitt Report into Building Regulations and Fire Safety, expected to include tougher penalties for breaches. Soane encouraged those responsible for car park design and operations to go above and beyond building regulations. Post-fire photos show lobby areas beyond the fire doors in Liverpool were undamaged. Some concrete slab sections of the car park failed, but there was no significant collapse. Had the car park structure been steel, it would probably have collapsed because of the temperatures. Impact on people Fire safety tips for car park operators and owners E nsure your car park risk assessments and record-keeping are completely up to date In designing and constructing car parks, go above and beyond the building regulations (these are the minimum requirements) E nsure your car park fire doors and escape routes are always kept in optimum condition C onsider installing fire sprinkler systems H ave an emergency recovery plan L ook at the alerts on the SCOSS website relating to car parks structural-safety.org/ publications/scoss-alerts K eep abreast of the work of the BPAs Fire in Car Parks Working Group email Russell Simmons at russell@stripeuk.com Following the fire, Colleen Martin, assistant director supporting communities at Liverpool City Council, headed the multi-agency response. An effective response, said Martin, is about restoring and rehabilitating the community following an emergency. This included caring for the owners of the 1,300 cars in the car park, dealing with insurance issues and supporting nearby businesses affected by the blaze. Do not underestimate the impact on people was her key message. The Recovery Co-ordination Group dealt with humanitarian issues (some car owners needed emergency accommodation and many had left possessions 38 Britishparking.co.uk PNDec18 pp38-39 Fire Safety.indd 38 26/11/2018 16:26