London Fire Brigade says risk of unsafe buildings is not going away after Grenfell Tower Inquiry

Members of the London Fire Brigade (LFB) have been speaking to the London Assembly following the publication of the final phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report showed ‘systematic dishonesty’ contributed to the deaths of 72 people on 14 June 2017.

The report said LFB should have been aware of the shortcomings of cladding, particularly with regard to high rises after the Lakanal House fire in 2009.

It also highlighted a chronic lack of effective leadership and issues with training control room staff.

The London Assembly Fire Committee questioned the Deputy Mayors responsible for housing and the fire service, along with senior representatives from the London Fire Brigade (LFB), how they will respond to the Inquiry’s findings and recommendations.

Following from Phase One, the Brigade say they 'accepted every recommendation' and 'completed every recommendation'.

Today, Andy Roe, Commissioner of LFB, cited Dagenham as an example of where the service had improved after a "3.5 million pound investment" into the force's logistics.

"I need to be responsible and evidence the outcome for communities when it lands," said Commissioner Roe.

"We've got a lot better...we see challenge in ourselves."

The commissioner went on to explain all 5000 firefighters have been trained to respond differently which includes taking early decisions and communicating continuously.

Jonathan Smith, Deputy Commissioner and Operational Director for preparedness and Response added: "If I look back to when I joined 25 years ago, the job is almost unrecognisable."

He said it's important that the training provision is as agile as it can be which is a "challenge for the sector".

However, the meeting then turned on to the question of regulatory bodies to which Andy Roe described as "not good enough yet".

"As we have been saying for some time, the regulation - whilst welcoming from phase one, [brings] some very important changes but they still don't have enough teeth and they need better alignment," he explained.

According to the London Fire Brigade, there are still 1307 unsafe buildings.

The Deputy Commissioner, Charlie Pugsley, described a building that was just below 50 metres high, with one staircase and no evacuation lift.

"You have to go to the root of the problem before you get to regulation," said Commissioner Roe.

There were suggestions discussed for how to solve the problem, and one of those was expropriation.

"We have powers, the building safety groups have powers, the secretary of state has powers...we all need to be working together in one system," continued Commissioner Roe.

"The report is quite clear about that and we recognise a lot of what has been said there...all of this goes to an investment in skills, a moral approach to the construction sector...I think the report is a watershed moment to go back to what has already been done with good intent and do better."

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