LARRY STOKES Underwriting Manager ZURICH MUNICIPAL CHAIRMAN OF SCHOOLS WORKING PARTY - Arson Prevention Bureau

IFE ROYAL BERKSHIRE GROUP 11 November 2003  National Cost  Issues  Arsonist Profile  School Fires

The incidence of arson in industrial, agricultural, commercial and public premises

 Housing £ 351m  Commercial £ 758m £1,108m  Business Interruption£ 269m £1,477m Cost of Fires ABI

50% of Commercial £500m Arson

INVOLVING ……...  Death, and injury to occupants and Fire Fighters  Business Interruption  Closure of the Company  Loss of jobs  Loss of facilities or amenities for the community  Pollution  Loss of industrial heritage

ARSON FIRE - WHO ?  MALE ….. but not always  AGED  WORKFORCE  VISITORS

ARSON FIRE - WHEN ALL FIRES - 49% AT NIGHT ARSON-68% AT NIGHT LARGE ARSON-84% AT NIGHT

 The Problem  The Issues  The Solutions SCHOOL FIRES

THE PROBLEM

COSTS OF LOSS/ DAMAGE IN SCHOOLS National Costs - Fire Losses

Government set to spend £5bn on renewing school infrastructure over next 5 years So What ?

90,000 schoolchildren have education disrupted 80,000 families affected 320,000 people involved PLUS Resources diverted Education disrupted A Different Perspective …..

FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION FIRES > £250, MONTHS MAY APRIL 2002 Total all occupancies 123,904,807 Schools - 26%

School Fires by Means of Discovery

School Fires By Time of Day

Causes Of Fires In Schools

SCHOOL FIRES THE ISSUES

Target Hardening Intervention THE SOLUTIONS

Target Hardening THE SOLUTIONS  Use construction materials of limited combustibility  Secure bin stores  Retro-fit void barriers on older schools  Effective perimeter security  Automatic Fire alarms in all schools  Fire Sprinklers in new/refurbished schools

YOUR SCHOOL?

Site closed for weeks Community disrupted Children taught in portakabins for 3 years

Case Study 2 St Mary’s Church of England Primary School

Lunchtime fire April 2002 Pupil enters stockroom - starts fire Thought to be false alarm, but ….. Water spotted from under the door Water cleaned up, school operates normally for rest of day

WHAT CAN BE DONE ?  Design of new schools to incorporate lessons learnt  Upgrade refurbished schools  Target ‘the critical few’ of each LEA AND  Use curriculum based resource to deflect potential fire setters

SCHOOL FIRES  Who sets them? More than 90% set by those who attend, or who have attended, the school  Why do they set them? To resolve angry feelings about the school Often specifically directed to one or more teachers’ areas  Can we prevent school fires?Yes Awareness of the fire setter enables preventative intervention  How do we identify them? There are fire setters in every school

 Fire safety (arson) education  Current space on the curriculum limited to fire safety  Nothing specific on arson  Main package is "learn not to burn"  Opportunity missed? ARSON IN SCHOOLS

 To raise awareness of problem and consequences  To educate pupils, teachers, parents and neighbours and communities.  To be integrated within the school curriculum  To promote “good citizenship” both within and outside the school environment  - All with the overriding aim of reducing arson and increasing risk assessment skills. (Changing Behaviour) OBJECTIVES OF PROGRAMME

THE PROGRAMME  Key partner involvement  Schools  Theatre in Education  Workshops  Resource Pack  Community Interaction  Benchmarking / monitoring / evaluation

 Target the increased resource to improve the vulnerability of schools to large disruptive fires  Energise/facilitate education programmes aimed at explaining the consequences of malicious fire raising  All agencies to work together to reduce the number and cost of fires in schools THE OPPORTUNITY