Fire Safety Guidance for High-Rise Residents

Overview

Living in a high-rise doesn’t make you more at risk of fire than other homes. Living in a high-rise building comes with unique safety considerations. This page provides practical advice to help you stay safe and prepared.

Understanding your building’s layout and creating a personal fire safety plan is essential. A clear plan can make all the difference in an emergency.

If you’re older or vulnerable, a Home Fire Safety Visit can help.

Our resources will guide you through steps you can take to reduce risks and improve safety in your home.

Understanding fires in high-rise buildings

Most high-rise domestic buildings are built with the principle of ‘stay put’ in mind. Flats are designed to resist the spread of fire and fires are not likely to spread from one flat to another. Unless you are directly affected by heat smoke or fire, or you have been told to leave your flat by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, stay inside with the front door closed.

If there is a fire, we will attend. Don't be alarmed by the scale of our response. We need a large number of resources to get our equipment from the ground to the floor of the fire.

Do not jump, we will be on our way.

You should always have a fire escape plan and know what to do in an emergency and know what to do in an emergency.

Buildings affected by cladding remediation works

Most high-rise domestic buildings are built with the principle of ‘stay put’ in mind. This means that flats will be designed to resist the spread of fire. Because of this, a fire is not likely to spread from one flat to another. This means that unless you are directly affected by heat smoke or fire, or you have been told to leave your flat by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service; you should stay inside with the front door closed.

If your building is affected by cladding remediation works, there may be special fire safety arrangements in place. This could include a building-specific Fire Evacuation Plan introduced as part of Urgent Interim Measures. In this situation, the ‘Stay Put’ advice throughout this page may not apply. You should always follow the fire evacuation instructions specific to your building.

If you are not sure what arrangements are in place for your building, you should contact your

• Building Manager
• Factor or Developer
• Local Authority
• Cladding Remediation Department: CladdingRemediationProgramme@gov.scot

Home fire escape plan

When a fire starts in any home, every second counts. The heat and smoke can create confusion and panic. Deciding who should do what in the moment is not easy.

Creating an escape plan helps ensure your family can get out quickly and safely in an emergency. It is important to know who will be responsible for assisting children, vulnerable adults and/or those who need special assistance.

It’s simple to make, and it could save lives. Download a fire escape plan template to create your own plan. Keep it somewhere visible and near your front door.

Living in a high-rise building will mean that your escape plan will differ depending on your building's arrangements. For example, if your building has special arrangements in place due to cladding remediation works needed on your building, then the stay put advice may not apply to you.

Your escape plan will vary depending on the nature of the fire, as explained on this page. It is important to know your plan fully to help keep you and your family safe.

What to do if there is a fire

External cladding

We have received a number of enquiries regarding a need for homeowners to provide an assessment of external cladding material on their property to financial lenders. In response to these enquiries, we have produced the following position statement.

In March 2025 the Scottish Government published its response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase 2 report: Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase 2 report: Scottish Government response - gov.scot.

Firefighting in high-rise Buildings

Residential high-rise buildings are designed to resist the spread of fire. Limiting the fire growth, development, and spread inside compartments.

Structural fire protection

All high-rise buildings include specific structural fire protection and fixed installations, meeting the standards in place at the time of construction:

• Staircases
  Typically enclosed in fire-resisting material. Access should be through self-closing fire-resisting doors.
• Doors
  Most are fire-resistant and fitted with self-closing devices. Doors should never be wedged open. Keep access doors secure to prevent intruders starting deliberate fires.
• Ventilators
  Designed to ventilate smoke and maintain safe conditions in common areas, lobbies, and staircases to support evacuation.
• Rising mains
  Provide firefighters with quick, high-volume water access via pipe networks and floor-level valves. Eliminates the need to carry hoses up many floors.
• Emergency Vehicle Parking Area
  Must remain clear at all times. Ensures fast access to fire hydrants and the building.

We have operational policies, equipment and training in place to prioritise rescues via internal routes, especially in multi-storey or high-rise buildings.

Our crews utilise:

• lifts
• fire alarm panels
• fire doors
• wet or dry riser landing valves in firefighting operations

If you see any damage to these devices, please report to your housing association immediately.

Firefighting tactics

Our primary method to tackle a fire within a high-rise building is to do so internally and by using main jets connected to the internal risers.

Internal rescues

Trained firefighters carry out internal rescues wearing breathing apparatus. They are supported by building features and specialist equipment, including:

• smoke hoods
• thermal imaging cameras
• ventilation equipment

High Reach Appliances

We maintain a 16 High Reach Appliances (HRAs) in key areas across Scotland. When called upon, they can be used for rescues, inspections, or used as water towers.

Fire Escape Hoods

All our frontline crews carry fire escape hoods that can be deployed to evacuate people in the unlikely event that this will happen.