New Fire Safety Measures at Westfield House

Westfield House, in Bridgwater, the tallest high-rise housing in the county of Somerset, has been fitted with a new state-of-the-art fire protection system.

Following advice from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue and requests from residents, and operators of the building, Homes in Sedgemoor, authorised the installation of the new system to bring fire safety up to the highest possible standard. Each of the flats in the ten-storey building has been fitted with fire sensors and carbon monoxide detectors in bedrooms, living areas and kitchens, specific to each property, along with new fire doors. New detectors have also been fitted in communal areas. In the event of smoke in a flat reaching the detectors, a single-tone alarm will sound in the flat. If the smoke clears in five minutes, the alarm automatically resets. If it doesn’t, or the smoke reaches the second detector, a two-tone alarm will sound. Then the fire service will be notified by the alarm monitoring centre.

People in the flats have been told that if they hear a two-tone alarm in their home, they should leave the flat, closing the newly fitted fire door behind them. These fire doors offer 60-minute protection.

Firefighters will then investigate the source of the alarm by first inspecting an alarm panel by the entrance to the flats and identifying the risk. If necessary, they will conduct a phased evacuation, floor by floor. This is done by manually setting off the two-tone sounders in the properties on the floor they wish to evacuate.

The communal detectors in the block do not have a delay on them. In the event of a fire in these areas, the fire service will be notified immediately, but they will not sound.

Representatives from Coomber Fire and Security Systems, who installed the alarms, along with a team from Green Watch at Bridgwater fire station, joined representatives from Homes in Sedgemoor to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system – and unexpectedly got to see it operate in the real world when a fire alert was successfully detected and dealt with during the official switch on.

Neil Richards, Fire Safety Team Leader for Homes in Sedgemoor said:

“Since the tragedy of Grenfell, we have looked at every aspect of our high-rise building to make it as safe as possible for our customers living there. We have also worked even harder and with a more joined-up approach with Devon and Somerset Fire Service to make sure we are listening to their advice and that we are doing everything we can to ensure that safety for our customers and fire crews in the event of an incident occurring is a top priority. This has been a big project, but also a successful and satisfying one to undertake.”