Fire engines in Herts are equipped with smoke hoods in the wake of the Grenfell disaster

FIRE engines across the county have been equipped with specialist smoke hoods, designed to help evacuate residents from fires in high-rise buildings.

The hoods can be placed over the heads of those caught up in a blaze – allowing them to breathe while exiting through smoke-filled corridors or stairwells.

They have already been used to rescue six people in the county – including three children from a high-rise blaze in Watford.

And they are among the changes brought in by the Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) in the wake of the 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower, in London, and the inquiry that followed.

At a meeting of the county council’s public health and community safety cabinet panel on Friday (May 12) assistant chief fire officer Simon Tuhill demonstrated the hoods to councillors.

“We now have these on all of our front-line fire engines – two of these on every single fire engine,” he said.

“And they have directly contributed to resident safety since our introduction of them around a year ago.

“It’s a very simple piece of equipment – and consists of a hood that you can put on members of the public when we rescue them through a smoke-filled environment.

“Since we have had these available we have used them at three significant incidents and rescued six people – including in July ’22 using them on three children at a high-rise fire in Watford.

“So a real tangible change as a result of the Grenfell Tower incident.”

A number of actions were identified by the fire service, in Hertfordshire, in the wake of the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, in which 72 people died.

And since then further actions have been identified by the National Fire Chiefs Council.

At the meeting it was reported that the Service had now completed 94 per cent of the actions identified in the wake of the inquiry and 82 per cent of NFCC recommendations.

In addition to the smoke hoods, among the changes is new software that provides key risk information about all high rise buildings to fire crews – providing crews with ‘on arrival tactics’ and plans.

And all 97 designated high-rise buildings in the county have been visited by fire officers, as part of the ‘High Rise Residential Building inspection programme.

Mr Tuhill did confirm that there continued to be some buildings in Hertfordshire that had cladding – and which were subject to retrospective work by the ‘responsible people’ and building owners.

At the meeting Alex Woodman, the county council’s executive director of community protection and chief fire officer, said the service’s progress had been ‘pleasing.

“The ripple effects of Grenfell have hit nationally, but also I think international learning that has come of out of this,” he said..

“And the prioritisation for us is ensuring that we have adopted it at pace and that all of the recommendations will be followed.

“I think it is really pleasing to see where we have got to with the report today.

“So hopefully this gives confidence and assurance to members of our direction of travel.”