Editorial | Fire, safety and high-rises

In the nearly five years since the fire at the 24-floor Grenfell Tower in London that killed 79 people, this newspaper has several times raised the question of fire safety and the capacity of the Jamaica Fire Brigade to respond should there be a significant fire at any of Jamaica’s multistorey buildings.

The usual response of the Fire Brigade, when it addresses such matters, is yes. But this newspaper has never been satisfied that the issue has been confronted as robustly as the circumstances require. And we believe that the situation deserves even more attention now, given the increasing prevalence of these types of buildings.

Indeed, Jamaicans have been reminded of the implications of our growing embrace of high-rises for safety and security in a long letter to this newspaper last weekend by Carlos Pipher, the chairman of the Jamaica chapter of ASIS International, a global organisation of industrial safety professionals.

Five years ago, but for a small cluster of high-rises on the downtown Kingston waterfront, and those in the New Kingston area, Jamaica had relatively few buildings with the seven, or more, floors which America’s fire protection professionals use in their definition of such complexes. That roughly translates to a height of more than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire vehicle access.

In Jamaica, in the past, most buildings of this type housed offices or hotels. However, the recent relaxation of densities for residential properties has led to an explosion in the construction of multistorey residential dwellings. Buildings are becoming taller. A drive around Kingston will highlight the “changing skyline” which Prime Minister Andrew Holness expected, and hoped for, when he spoke in 2018 at the opening of a 10-storey apartment building in the capital.

BREACH OF REGULATORY OVERSIGHT

Sometimes, however, as a number of court cases have exemplified, constructions proceed in breach of regulatory oversight. Buildings may have more floors than were permitted, or developers may depart from approved engineering and architectural designs. In such circumstances, regulators cannot always vouch for the integrity of the construction. In the circumstances, attention to safety and security is even more important.

Said Mr Pipher in his letter on Saturday: “Fire poses the greatest risk to a high-rise structure, and thus increases the probability of loss of lives because of the inability to evacuate quickly due to the large size of the structure, the large volume of occupants, and the difficulty to respond to and extinguish a fire that is out of the reach of firefighting equipment. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that security/property managers are well versed in safety and security issues that are applicable to a high-rise structure.”

We expect that most of the new high-rise buildings – at least those whose developers played by the rules – are designed and engineered in keeping with regulatory codes, especially in relation to fire safety, and have appropriate redundancies. These might include, for instance, water sprinkler systems (NFPA 13 or 13R standards), depending on the height and size of the complex.

However, given the many regulatory breaches of so many buildings – mostly exposed in court in cases brought by neighbouring residents against developers and regulators – the authorities should probably conduct an audit of all buildings above a prescribed number of floors, constructed over, say, the last three to four years, to determine whether they are in keeping with the codes.

Further, there should be a fulsome, rather than perfunctory, discussion by the Jamaica Fire Brigade of its capacity to respond to the potential catastrophes at high-rise complexes. Given the trajectory of real estate developments in the capital, it is likely that it is to high-rises, especially if they are deficient in prevention systems, that firefighters will increasingly have to respond to blazes. Firefighters’ training and equipment must reflect that reality.

Which is part of what we feel the Jamaica Fire Brigade should be engaging the public about; for instance, they will shortly receive 30 new fire tenders. The question, therefore, is whether these fire tenders are appropriate for the emerging circumstances, and if they will be sufficient for the brigade’s needs.

Additionally, it would make sense for the Jamaica Fire Brigade, and developers of high-rises, to begin a public sensitisation campaign on the safety issues of living in multistorey apartments, as against single-family dwellings. This is not about frightening people, but putting them in a better position to respond to situations that may arise in the types of buildings in which Jamaicans will increasingly live.