This Media Release is a warning about cigarette and lithium battery fires for apartment buildings and has been provided by Strata Community Association (WA).
An average of 10 fires break out in West Australian apartment buildings every year and strata communities must be vigilant to help prevent them, WA’s peak strata body warns.
With discarded cigarettes a leading cause of fires in WA multi-storey residential buildings, SCA (WA) President Catherine Lezer urged people to be aware of the dangers they posed and to dispose of butts properly.
As overheating lithium batteries become a new fire concern, Ms Lezer said residents should be careful and not charge them inside apartments or near flammable materials.
She said apartment communities should heed the online information and advice available from the WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services and the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.
Strata communities could help prevent fires by making sure they attend to general maintenance and servicing matters and by ensuring fire safety equipment was working and checked regularly, she said.
“Fires in apartment buildings can be deadly as we’ve seen in overseas disasters such as the Grenfell Towers tragedy in the UK in 2017,” Ms Lezer said.
“It’s vital apartment communities do all they can to prevent fires in the first case – and also know what to do if there is a fire.”
Basic fire measures were found to be missing or inadequate in Grenfell Tower. Fire, fuelled by the building’s cladding, quickly engulfed the 24 storey West London property, killing 72 people.
Ms Lezer said good housekeeping by managers and occupants in WA apartment complexes could help reduce the risks of a fire starting or taking hold.
Fire safety equipment such as fire extinguishers, sprinklers and smoke alarms should be maintained in good working order and fire doors needed to be clear of any obstructions.
Buildings should also have an evacuation plan – and residents should be familiar with it.
“Talk to family members and neighbours about what you would do in a fire,” Ms Lezer said. “And practice it.
“For those of us who live in vertical communities, it could save lives.”
Strata Community Association (WA)
This post appears in Strata News #588.
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