Balcony Fire in Roehampton, London, sees balcony destroyed following stray firework landing on combustible decking

November is a time of celebration in the UK, with the annual festivities of Fireworks Night seeing many come together with friends and family to enjoy their own fireworks or attending local public events. There is, sadly, an inherent danger in fireworks, well demonstrated this year by a balcony fire in Roehampton, London.

London Fire Brigade teams from Wandsworth, Richmond, Fulham, Wimbledon and Kingston fire stations attended the scene and brought the fire under control in less than an hour from the emergency call being made. A first-floor balcony was totally destroyed by the stray firework and it also damaged part of a split-level flat on the first and second floors, which could result in thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Naturally, fireworks are highly explosive and require strict attention to detail and extreme levels of caution in order to control safely. In urban city locations, stray fireworks risk being fired into the unsuspecting homes of nearby homes, particularly tower blocks. The heat from the fuse and concealed gunpowder impacting a building that possesses combustible materials can lead to a devastating fire that puts many lives at risk.

Fortunately, no casualties have been announced and we can reflect on this incident with some degree of relief. However, with the Christmas and New Year festivities approaching in particular, it’s important that we raise attention to such an event and highlight the lessons we can learn to prevent similar events unfolding in the near future.

There remain thousands of balconies in the capital and across the UK that are constructed from combustible materials, such as timber and composite decking. As shown in our recent Balcony Fires Report, these combustible balconies continue to pose a major fire risk.

The surest route to achieving fire safety in balconies is to remove and replace all combustible materials, but until that is done residents must take care to ensure their balconies are as safe as possible and avoid storing combustible materials that might be ignited by a stray firework or flicked cigarette.

If you would like to discuss an upcoming balcony remediation project you have with us, please give us a call on 01622 534 050 or email us at info@alideck.co.uk.