The Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) is calling for an urgent review of building regulations following the latest large fire affecting a timber frame building under construction.
Its call came as UK Timber Frame Association chairman Geoff Arnold appeared on BBC 1 television last Saturday to defend timber frame construction.
CFOA’s call for a review to consider the issue of external fire spread from fires involving construction sites follows a four-storey timber frame complex being built in Basingstoke this month.
CFOA also said large timber frame buildings under construction pose a “significant risk to firefighters, construction workers and members of the public”.
“CFOA is increasingly concerned that a fire involving a timber framed building under construction may result in loss of life,” it said.
It said the government department which oversees the fire and rescue service is commissioning research into firefighting in timber framed buildings and also fire spread within and beyond such buildings. CFOA wants to see the research accelerated and the findings published as a matter of urgency.
It also called for building site managers to be extra vigilant as most of the construction fires are started by arsonists.
