Source: Fire Protection Association

Government Publishes Evacuation Guidelines for Fire and Rescue Services

The Home Office has published a new document outlining its research-backed guidelines for fire and rescue services during high-rise evacuations.

Published on 5 February 2024, and to support the operational practices of fire and rescue services during a full or partial evacuation from high-rise residential buildings, nine national guidelines have been specified by the government:

1. Building height (timing of evacuation)
2. Staircases (timing of evacuation)
3. Evacuation alarm systems versus door-knocking
4. Emergency evacuation methods for residents
5. Evacuation movement and vulnerable residents
6. Undertaking evacuations of vulnerable residents
7. Information on vulnerable residents
8. Evacuees’ behaviour
9. Information sharing amongst residents.

The above guidelines aim to make fire and rescue services aware of various changeable factors, such as timing and movement, when carrying out resident evacuations. For instance, the document states that “total evacuation time in the stairwell should not be derived from travel distance alone” as “doubling the building height does not necessarily double the total evacuation time”. It also comments on the potential advantage of two staircases in an evacuation scenario compared to one, stating that “there is a benefit of having an unobstructed staircase for the sole use of evacuation in a building during a fire incident”.

The guidelines are in response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry (Phase 1) recommendation that called for the government to “develop national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings”, with such guidelines to include the “means of protecting fire exit routes and procedures for evacuating persons who are unable to use the stairs in an emergency, or who may require assistance (such as disabled people, those with cognitive impairment, older people and young children)”.

In particular, the government document highlights additional care and assistance for vulnerable residents and a better understanding of resident behaviour during fire incidents, which fire and rescue services should be mindful of.

“It should also not be assumed that residents will automatically be aware of what to do or follow signage in place and may need clear instructions to support their understanding of the incident and the required response,” the guidance states.



The newly published guidelines have been influenced by recent research, including a rapid evidence review report on evacuations for high-rise residential buildings that was published in November 2022 and a study by the University of Edinburgh on resident response to fire incidents in high-rise buildings from June 2023. It also draws on information gathered from previous consultations on PEEPs and EEIS.

The document is also heavily supported by research and testing carried out by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), which analysed strategies for the evacuation of occupants from high-rise residential buildings involved in a fire. As part of its study, UCLan performed a series of live operational testing strategies using fire and rescue services staff and volunteers. They included:

• a full simultaneous evacuation using an evacuation alert system (single staircase)
• a full evacuation with door-knocking alerts from the bottom to the top of the building, without an evacuation alert system (single staircase)
• a full evacuation using an evacuation alert system (single staircase): phased bottom-up from above the fire
• a full evacuation using an evacuation alert system (single staircase): phased top-down from above the fire
• a full simultaneous evacuation using an evacuation alert system with two staircases.

The Home Office was able to derive several research questions from UCLan’s testing methodology, including which strategies were likely to lead to the fastest evacuation of a high-rise residential building, to what extent each of the evacuation strategies led to congestion in stairwells, what impact evacuees with impairments had on evacuations, and any further factors that might affect live evacuations from high-rise residential buildings.

A summary of the research and analysis can be found here.

Additionally, detailed information about each government guideline is available here.