What to do in the event of a fire

If you live in a building with shared, or ‘communal’ parts, it’s important that you know what to do if there’s a fire, either in your home or elsewhere in your building. The strategy in place depends on several factors, so it’s important that you read this carefully.

Evacuation strategies

We have one of two strategies in most of our buildings:

• Stay put
• Simultaneous evacuation

There should be a fire safety notice near the front door of the building. This will tell you whether to ‘stay put’ or whether to ‘evacuate’ if there’s a fire.

You should also have been given a copy of your fire safety notice when you moved into your home.

To make sure you know what your evacuation strategy is, you can request a copy of your building’s evacuation strategy by contacting your Neighbourhood Housing Lead.

If you know your building’s evacuation strategy, you can read the relevant guidance below. If you do not know your building’s strategy, please read the ‘general’ advice.

Please note, that if your building is not managed by L&Q, some of this information may not apply to you. You’ll find information about who is responsible for the fire safety of your home on the fire safety notice near the front door of your building.

• Stay put strategy (PDF)
• Simultaneous evacuation strategy (PDF)
• General building evacuation advice (PDF)

Stay put strategy

If your building has a ‘stay-put’ strategy, the building is designed to restrict fire spread, keeping you safe and giving the fire brigade time to arrive and tackle it.

When this is the case, there is little risk of the fire spreading and you should only need to evacuate if the fire is in your home, or you believe you are in danger.

Simultaneous evacuation strategy

This strategy is used when the building is not considered capable of restricting fire spread. In this instance, we will provide fire alarms to warn you to evacuate.

Occasionally, we may use a waking watch (trained people who continually patrol all floors and the perimeter of your building) as a temporary measure to help raise the alarm if a fire is detected.

Help us to keep escape routes safe

Shared spaces must be kept clear of things that could block exit routes from your building or provide fuel for a fire.

To help keep yourself and your neighbours safe, please keep communal areas clear of scooters, prams or other belongings. These can block exit routes and provide fuel for a fire. In some instances, such as with e-bikes and electric scooters, the batteries can also start a fire.

Residents who interfere with fire doors, such as removing self-closers or propping open fire doors also create a risk as this could allow a fire to spread into the escape routes.

Please dispose of all belongings and unwanted items correctly and if you spot any issues in your block, contact our customer service centre. 

Contact the fire brigade

In the event of a fire, once you are safe, call the fire brigade on 999 and give them your address and flat number.

Once the emergency is over, you should inform us as soon as you can so we can arrange any inspections or maintenance as required.