Police officers report unsecured abandoned buildings, and fire fighters report any building in which a fire has occurred, to the taskforce – whether the building is privately owned or owned by the council. The taskforce then gives the details to the environmental health department, which boards up the property to stop potential fire-starters getting in.
If the building is privately owned, the environmental health team tries to recoup the cost of boarding it up from the owner.
We liaise with Transco, the gas piping company, and Northern Electricity to have gas and electricity supplies to the building cut off. We also work with them to get supplies to vacant premises cut off as soon as possible after the buildings are vacated.
We've set up a procedure to remove unwanted gas fire cylinders so that they don't get left lying around when people move out, because arsonists could turn them on and set fire to them or, if there is a fire in the premises, the cylinders could heat up and explode.
We estimate that the cost of one fire in one home is £30,000 – that covers fighting the fire, making the building fit for habitation again and lost rent in the meantime – so the £30,000 a year that the council pays into the scheme is worth it if we can prevent just one fire. In fact, in just the first year of the scheme, fires in empty properties fell 24%, while fires spreading into properties from elsewhere fell 33%.
Source
Housing Today
Postscript
Terry Cooney, Newcastle councillor and vice-chair of the Tyne & Wear Fire Authority, and Alan Holmes, deputy chief fire officer of Tyne & Wear Fire Brigade, spoke to Sophie Mason
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