Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service tackle two fires on wooden balconies caused by cigarette and barbecue, care advised for Easter bank holiday weekend

As we head into a long weekend for the Easter break, a timely warning on fire safety has hit the headlines as two separate wooden balconies went up in flames in Manchester due to the careless actions of the residents.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) reports that they attended the fires within a two hour period on the evening of Tuesday 30^th March.

First, fire crews were called to a blaze on a balcony in Manchester city centre at 9:29pm, where the wooden decking on a balcony had been ignited by a disposable BBQ being placed directly onto the deck surface. The fire was soon extinguished but severe damage was caused to the balcony’s wooden decking.

Later, at just after 11pm, GMFRS crews raced to a fire on a balcony at a second floor flat in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Extinguishing the fire and making the scene safe within 30 minutes, the fire crews found the cause to have been a carelessly discarded cigarette igniting wooden furniture and the balcony.

GMFRS Head of Prevention, Area Manager Paul Duggan said: “As we are experiencing some nicer weather in Greater Manchester it is really important that residents of flats are aware of fire safety when they use their balconies.”

“We were fortunate that there were no injuries at the incidents we attended yesterday and that we were able to quickly bring them under control and stop any further spread.”

Mr Duggan went on to warn that residents and homeowners should never use a barbecue on their balconies, and that smokers should always dispose of their cigarettes safely when smoking on a balcony.

The AliDeck Balcony Fires Report 2017 to 2020 found that the overwhelming cause of fires on wooden balconies was smoking, with careless use of smoking materials responsible for almost half of all reported balcony fires in the UK across that period. Barbecues were another major cause of balcony fires.

With a four-day weekend upon us and the potential of pleasant weather, care must be taken as we enjoy our outdoor living spaces such as balconies, particularly when they are constructed of combustible materials such as flammable wooden or composite decking.

The AliDeck range of aluminium decking is non-combustible and is an ideal replacement for dangerous wooden or composite decking material. Replacing flammable materials with non-combustible alternatives is the surest way to guarantee safety on balconies.

To find out more about how you can make your balconies safer by retrofitting aluminium decking, call the AliDeck team today on 01622 235 672 or email info@alideck.co.uk.