Fire Safety in Communal Areas

Living in a building with shared or communal areas, it is important to understand what action to take if a fire starts in your home or elsewhere in the building. The fire procedure for your building will depend on its design and fire safety arrangements, so please read this information carefully.

Evacuation strategies

Most of our buildings follow one of two fire evacuation strategies:

• Stay put
• Simultaneous evacuation

You should find a fire safety notice displayed near the main entrance of your building. This notice will explain whether your building operates a ‘stay put’ approach or a full evacuation procedure in the event of a fire.

If you are unsure which evacuation strategy applies to your building, you can request further information from NLM.

Please note that if NLM does not manage your building directly, some of this information may not apply. Details of who is responsible for fire safety in your building should be shown on the fire safety notice at the entrance.

Stay put strategy

Where a building follows a ‘stay put’ strategy, it has been designed and assessed to help contain fire and smoke within the area where the fire starts. This helps protect residents in other parts of the building while the London Fire Brigade attends.

In these buildings, you would only need to leave if the fire is in your own home or if smoke, heat or other signs of danger mean it is no longer safe to remain inside.

Simultaneous evacuation strategy

A simultaneous evacuation strategy is used where residents must leave the building together if a fire is identified. In these cases, fire alarm systems or other arrangements will be in place to alert residents when they need to evacuate.

Helping to keep escape routes safe

Communal areas and shared walkways must be kept free from items that could obstruct escape routes or increase the risk of fire.

To protect yourself and your neighbours, please do not leave scooters, pushchairs, bicycles or personal belongings in corridors, stairwells or other shared spaces. These items can block escape routes and may also add fuel to a fire. Batteries used in e-bikes and electric scooters can present an additional fire risk if stored or charged improperly.

Fire doors play an important role in preventing the spread of smoke and flames. Please do not wedge them open, remove self-closing devices, or interfere with them in any way.

Please dispose of unwanted items responsibly and report any fire safety concerns in your block to NLM as soon as possible.

Contacting the fire brigade

If there is a fire, get to a place of safety and call 999. Give the emergency operator your full address and flat number.

After the incident has been dealt with, please let NLM know as soon as you can so that any necessary inspections, repairs or follow-up actions can be arranged.