Fire safety information for council tenants

Portsmouth City Council takes fire very seriously.

Anyone living in a tower block managed by the council should:

• let us know if you don’t have a hardwired fire alarm
• always let us in to do routine gas and electricity maintenance
• take care with lit cigarettes, candles and other naked flames

Download fire safety leaflets from Hampshire Fire & Rescue and the government.

Here are a few things to remember if you live in a block of flats or maisonette:

• keep communal areas clear of clutter
• don’t smoke in communal hallways or lifts, or put cigarettes out on the floor
• don’t keep gas bottles or similar in your flat or in the block.

• phone 999 to report the fire
• leave your property, closing all doors behind you
• wait somewhere safe outside.

Stay in your home – this feels strange, but is the safest place, because if everyone left the block at the same time, it could spread the fire and cause overcrowding on stairwells

• close all your windows and doors, and wait for the fire service to arrive
• leave your home only if told to by the fire service, who may decide to evacuate the block in a safe, organised way.

Contact the council’s fire safety advisor by phoning the switchboard on our contact page.