Meet your Fire Safety Compliance Team. The team is made up of six Fire Safety Officers: Kani, Kyran, Caz, Bobby, Kerry and me - Matt. We also have Kai, he's our Fire Safety Administrator and Brian is our Fire Safety Compliance Team Supervisor.
If your Curo home is in a block of flats or a building with more than one property inside it, you'll see us in the communal areas of your building carrying out fire safety checks. Here's what we check and how you can help us to keep you, your family and your neighbours safe from fire.
Fire alarm systems
If your block has a fire panel in the communal area, we'll carry out a weekly test to make sure your system is always working as it should be. We test your fire system by operating a 'manual call point' or MCP. These are the red devices used to raise the alarm if there's a fire. This sends a signal to the alarm panel and sounds the alarm. Testing this tells us your system is healthy and in working order.
We then need to silence your alarm on the fire panel. We will test a different call point every week so sometimes the alarm may be sounding for a little longer if we are testing a call point further away from the panel. You should find a poster by the document box in your block telling you when you should expect to hear your alarm being tested. Usually the alarm will sound for up to 60 seconds.
If your alarm sounds for longer than 60 seconds you should make your way out of the building closing your flat door behind you.
Emergency lighting
We check the emergency lights in your communal areas once a month to make sure these lights will switch on and illuminate your escape route in an emergency.
Checking safety signs are visible
We make sure all the correct and up to date safety signs and information are clearly displayed in your communal areas.
Keeping communal areas clear
A vital part of our role is to make sure that your communal areas are kept clear of possessions and unwanted items. We need to keep these areas clear so that, in an emergency:
- everyone can exit the building safely and
- fire fighters entering the building are safe too.
Some items such as recycling can also act as a fuel for a fire to start or spread. If we find items in communal areas, we'll work with you to get them removed as soon as possible to ensure the safety of you and your neighbours.
Spotting, reporting and fixing issues
We always fill out a report form on our handheld devices, noting and reporting any faults we find so they can be fixed quickly.
Checking doors and lights
As part of our visits we check your entrance doors are secure and that communal fire doors are in good condition and self-close, and we make sure nothing safety-critical has been tampered with. We also make sure all your communal lights are working.
Thanks for help us to keep you safe by keeping your communal areas clear, not propping open fire doors and reporting any safety concerns to us. Please say hello if you see us in your communal areas. We're always happy to help with any questions about fire safety.
Download our fire safety leaflets here.