Fire Statistics: Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings

Dear Glyn,

On behalf of English Heritage, I would like to request that consideration be given to collating and providing statistical information on fire losses in historic buildings.

At present there is no method of collecting this information, as the FDR 1 does not give this class of building, except as part of a limited list of public buildings, law courts etc. There is also currently no method to allow Brigades to know which buildings are listed, although we have been working with a few brigades and have given them a hard copy of the lists for their areas.

English Heritage is working on a project to put all the lists on disc to distribute to local authorities, as they are responsible for looking after some aspects of these buildings. These lists can also be distributed to fire brigades, so that they can identify their historic buildings. These lists will be updated monthly, although it is unlikely that his level of service will be required by brigades and an annual update would probably be sufficient.

All of the addresses of these ancient monuments and historic buildings are given as 12 figure grid references, which are the same used for the standards of fire cover review and by brigade’s Command and Control systems.

I mentioned at the last meeting that Historic Scotland had prepared a European Committee of Science and Technology (COST) proposal for research into fire losses in historic buildings. This proposal has now been adopted and designated as Action C17, although the commencement date has not yet been agreed upon.

One of the working parties under this action will be looking at fire statistics and it is likely that the 'Historic Buildings Fire Research Co-ordinating Committee', which is part of English Heritage, will be involved.

I look forward to a positive response to our request

Yours Sincerely,

Steve Emery

Steve Emery
Fire Safety Adviser for English Heritage
National Monuments Record Centre
Kemble Drive,
Swindon SN2 2GZ
Tel. 01793 41 4874