Tenants cannot return home until fire-safety issues are fixed, says fire service

Crews from five fire stations were called to The John Green Building on Bolton Road around 6 pm on Monday night, where two cars were found alight in the basement carpark.

But despite the fire being quickly brought under control and put out, all tenants have been evacuated and provided temporary accommodation, until the landlord of the property makes the satisfactory changes.

The John Green building, Bolton Road

Chris Kemp, Senior Fire Protection Manager from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “People’s safety is our number one concern. While this was a relatively small fire, the fact it was in a high-rise residential building with existing fire safety concerns meant there was the potential for something much more serious to happen, this resulted in us having to take immediate action.

“We are continuing to work with the premises owners and managing agents to make sure safety issues in the building are put right. It is their responsibility to ensure this necessary work is carried out and certified before this building can be used again.”

Tenants were evacuated from the building on Monday

The fire caused significant damage to the lower ground floor car park, smoke logging to the stairwell and most floors of the property, with high-powered fans used to clear it.

West Yorkshire Fire Authority condemned the John Green Building on the night of the fire after finding a number of alarming issues with the building.

The prohibition notice states there are currently ‘insufficient measures to reduce the risk of fire and spread of fire on the premises.’

Before anyone can return to the building a number of measures need to be taken, including ensuring that all flat doors are capable to provide adequate fire resistance, ensuring that robust measures are in place to prevent the build-up of combustible materials on escape routes, and ensuring the emergency lighting is working and functional at all times.

Xavier Tikadar, 33, had been living in the building for two-and-a-half years and said she had reported issues regarding fire safety to her letting agency months before.

“The fire alarm was always going off, and the brigade were always coming round, so I was worried that if there ever was a real fire, no one would think anything of it so I reported it, and that is what happened.

“We could see from the bottom on Monday that people were just opening their windows when the alarm was going off because they just thought it was someone that had burnt their toast again, so it was really scary.”

Bradford Council provided emergency accommodation to affected residents and continues to work with providers to find more permanent accommodation.

Any affected residents are advised to speak to their letting agent regarding alternative accommodation and the managing agent for the building to provide any estimates of timescales.

The John Green Building, Bolton Road

The agents are also arranging for residents to safely enter the building to retrieve any personal belongings.

Last month improvements to fire safety guidance and building regulations to ensure tall buildings are made safer in England were introduced as part of a wider package of reforms. The changes meet recommendations from Phase One of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and will strengthen the information available to fire and rescue services.

All new residential buildings over 11m will now have to include a Secure Information Box. New residential developments over 18m will also have to incorporate an Evacuation Alert System to help fire and rescue services inform residents of a change in evacuation strategy, during an incident.

The John Green building

In addition, the Government has also introduced tougher standards for external wall materials on new medium-rise blocks of flats. These changes will also ban metal composite material panels with unmodified polyethene core on all new buildings at any height.

New statutory guidance will also be introduced to restrict the combustibility of materials used in and on the external walls of residential buildings, between 11-18m in height.

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: “Our Housing Options Service offered temporary accommodation to all affected households but many made their arrangements. The offer of emergency temporary accommodation is still open to affected residents if they still require it.”