Very tragic. I understand since this incident in 2009 the Southwark have been investing heavily in residential sprinkler systems for its properties - amongst other things. In fact the article cites £62 million in investment.

A shame that something tragic has to happen, but, hopefully, a shot across the bows to other landlords.

The fire was an electrical problem according to the LFB. I wonder just how many of these old flats have only 1 or 2 13amp sockets in their living room?

With the majority of households having masses of electrical equipment, TV's, CD players, DVD's PC's just how many flats have been rewired to cope with the influx of electronics or are they still dependant on householders still overloading their old and outdated sockets.

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I must admit that I know little about the case, however in terms of the detail of the FRA, if the fire did start in one of the flats would a FRA have picked up on any issues within the individual flats, in view of the fact they are domestic areas?     

Hopefull "lessons learned" will extend beyond LAs and domestic dwelling.

There is a real lack of understanding of fire stopping across most trades and many who commission work, and an all too common lack of post-contract or CoW confirmation of appropriate reinstatement (and often no reinstatement at all).

Originally Posted by: gerrysharpe

The fire was an electrical problem according to the LFB. I wonder just how many of these old flats have only 1 or 2 13amp sockets in their living room?

With the majority of households having masses of electrical equipment, TV's, CD players, DVD's PC's just how many flats have been rewired to cope with the influx of electronics or are they still dependant on householders still overloading their old and outdated sockets.

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It's not that type I would worry about, a extension is normally 13 amp (but do check). Satelite box, <0.5 amp, DVD <0.5, Tele 0.5, games console 0.86. What bothers me is Radiators oil filled 13, Hoovers 9 etc, it's people not realising what they can plug in and then to make it worse they plug in an extension into an extension to get more sockets. At home and at work.

I hope I've not rushed this but..

If you have a six-outlet extension lead with a 13A fuse in the plug then if you try and use 6 x 13A loads the fuse in the plug will open.

If you have a coiled extension lead and pull over the recommended load for the coiled lead then you may well have a fire.

If you plug six  6 x outlet fully loaded extension leads into individual socket outlets of a  32A ring circuit and load them you'll try and pull about 468A and the circuit breaker/fuses will open pretty quickly (at about 46.5A) (and fault at 160A in about 0.1S)  as they are designed to do.  

The extension lead fuses will be trying to pass 78A and that 13A fuse should open at about 20A the 1.5mm flex will handle 16A and 4 A over this is not a real problem (Table 4F3A BS7671)

For the most part loading is not the problem as overloads will be handled by the over current device.  The problems are electrical faults not overload.  Loose conductors, damaged cables, transforming coiled leads, placing heated electrical appliances where they shoul not be, not having the fixed wiring tested - loose connections,

Poor design such as installing too  high a rated protective device such as a 45 A onto a fixed wiring circuit comes into play as if the wiring is then 1.5mm.  We now have a problem with devices not being able to open in the required time under fault conditions  But in this case it is not overload as such it is a real problem at sourse.