Dear Mr Hutcheon

 

Your request has been assigned reference number 2023B088; please can you
quote this in any contact with us about this matter.

 

The request will be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act (FoIA) 2000 and you will receive a response within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days from date of receipt, which means
by 31/08/2023. We aim to respond earlier if possible and will keep you
updated regarding any change.

 

All requests dealt with under the FoIA are subject to the information not
being exempt or containing a reference to a third party. Guidance about
how we deal with requests for information is on our website at
[1]https://avonfire.gov.uk/guide-to-publish...,
and we retain request correspondence for the current financial year plus 3
years.

 

Thank you for your interest in Avon Fire & Rescue Service.

 

Kind regards

 

Joanna Warren

 

Data Protection Co ordinator  (Mon Thurs)

 

Corporate Services

 

Avon Fire & Rescue Service

 

Telephone: 0117 926 2061 Ext:302  [mobile number]

 

Please note I work Mon Thurs

 

[2]www.avonfire.gov.uk

 

 

 

 

From: Mr. Hutcheon <[FOI #1011164 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 2, 2023 10:46 AM
To: Freedom of Information Act & Data Protection Requests
<[Avon Fire and Rescue request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - FOIA Balcony fires data required

 

Dear Avon Fire and Rescue,

Please supply me with data relating to fires on balconies on residential
buildings in your area, as follows;

How many fires involving balconies occurred in total between 1st August
2022 and 31st July 2023?

In the same period, how many fires occurred where balconies where found to
have contributed to the spread of the fire across the external walls?

Please provide data on the causes of any fires that started on balconies
in the period (ie; barbecue, discarded cigarette, electrical appliance
fault, etc) and please provide the number of occurrences for each cause.

If your incident recording system does not include "balcony" as a recorded
location, could you please perform a search on free text fields in your
database for the term, as I have found in the past that this often returns
useable data.

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Hutcheon

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show quoted sections

Dear Mr Hutcheon

 

I write in response to your request for information dated 02.08.2023
regarding Avon Fire & Rescue Service’s (AF&RS) data for how many call outs
we received for balcony fire incidents.

 

Your request for information has been dealt with under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA) and I can confirm that Avon Fire &
Rescue Service holds some information falling within the description
specified within your request.

 

Please note the Incident Recording System (IRS) we use to record incident
data is provided and managed centrally on behalf the UK Home Office and
not at a Fire Service level, however I understand they are currently
looking at more recording categories to bring the system up to date. You
can check the data recordings list for IRS here : [1]Incident recording
system for fire and rescue authorities: questions and lists v1.4 - GOV.UK
(www.gov.uk) and guidance which explains the incident data definitions,
which can be downloaded via the following link [2]Fire statistics guidance
- GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please find our response below for:

 

Please supply me with data relating to fires on balconies on residential
buildings in your area, as follows;
How many fires involving balconies occurred in total between 1st August
2022 and 31st July 2023?  - Our Incident Reporting System (IRS) does not
have a data recording category for room of fire origin for balcony, as
such an incident would be recorded as room of origin for fire being
"External structure” or “Other”, which would also identify other types of
incidents that are not relevant to a fire on balcony. As per our Section
16 obligations under FoIA to assist the applicant, we have conducted a
text search using the final STOP message via our Service Control Log
system, this is the message from crews to Control to stop sending
resources to an incident.  We have identified 3 such incidents as given
below.
In the same period, how many fires occurred where balconies where found to
have contributed to the spread of the fire across the external walls?  -
We do not hold this data
Please provide data on the causes of any fires that started on balconies
in the period (ie; barbecue, discarded cigarette, electrical appliance
fault, etc) and please provide the number of occurrences for each cause. –
As given below

If your incident recording system does not include "balcony" as a recorded
location, could you please perform a search on free text fields in your
database for the term, as I have found in the past that this often returns
useable data. -  Data obtained using free text where balcony was mentioned
in the incident STOP message

Three Balcony fires at residential properties have been found between
01/08/2022 and 31/07/2023:

 

No. INCIDENT_NUMBER CALL_TIME Incident Cause of PROPERTY Property_Detail Incident WARD LAST_STOP
Type fire CATEGORY Detail
1 012821-03092022 03/09/2022 FIRE Accidental Dwelling Building --> FIRE: Weston-super-Mare FIRE ON 1ST
15:06 Dwelling --> Dwelling, Hillside FLOOR
Converted Cause PROPERTY
Flat/Maisonette (Acc), Is BALCONY,
- multiple Primary BUILDING
occupancy Fire CONSISTING
(yes) OF 3 FLOORS
APPROX 20 BY
15 METRES
USED AS
APPARTMENTS.
OWNER IN
ATTENDNANCE.
……FOI note -
No actual
cause given
on Service
Control log
but on IRS
states
‘negligent
use of
equipment
(heat
source)’.
First report
of fire
states SMOKE
COMING FROM
THE BALCONY
AFTER
BUILDERS
HAVE LEFT
but nothing
definitive
to state
this is
linked to
the cause.
2 024334-11022023 11/02/2023 FIRE Accidental Dwelling Building --> FIRE: Stockwood SMALL FIRE
15:36 Dwelling --> Dwelling, INVOLVING
Self contained Cause CIGARETTE
Sheltered (Acc), Is BIN ON
Housing Primary BALCONY ON
Fire SECOND FLOOR
(yes) FIRE OUT ON
ARRIVAL
INSPECTION
ONLY, FIRE
EXTINGUISHED
USING FIRE
EXTINGUISHER
BY RESIDENT
BEFORE
ARRIVAL OF
FIRE SERVICE
3 006309-23062023 23/06/2023 FIRE Accidental Dwelling Building --> FIRE: Windmill Hill ALL PERSONS
19:15 Dwelling --> Dwelling, ACCOUNTED
Purpose Built Cause FOR ONE FIRE
Flat/Maisonette (Acc), Is IN CHIP PAN
- multiple Primary IN FLAT X
occupancy Fire BALCONY ON
(yes) THE 1ST
FLOOR APPROX
1.5 LITRES
OF OIL.  

As we have supplied the incident number, you can look up further data via
our published incident data on the website
[3]https://www.avonfire.gov.uk/our-performa....

I hope you find the above information useful.

 

Guidance about how we deal with requests for information is freely
available on our website at
[4]http://www.avonfire.gov.uk/guide-to-publ.... AF&RS retain
request correspondence for the current financial year plus 3 years.

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request an internal review by writing to the Data
Protection Officer at:

 

Data Protection Officer

Avon Fire & Rescue Service

Police & Fire HQ

PO Box 37

Valley Road

Portishead

Bristol

BS20 8JJ

 

telephone 0117 9262061

email [5][email address]

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint
after internal review, you have the right of appeal to the Information
Commissioner at:

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

telephone 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745

website [6]www.ico.org.uk

 

There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Kind regards

 

Joanna Warren

 

Data Protection Co ordinator  (Mon Thurs)

 

Corporate Services

 

Avon Fire & Rescue Service

 

Telephone: 0117 926 2061 Ext:302  [mobile number]

 

Please note I work Mon Thurs

 

[7]www.avonfire.gov.uk

 

 

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