A care home owner has criticised fire officers for being "NVARCHAR(MAX)book driven" and warned that regulations may force him to shut down some of his facilities.

Raj Sehgal, managing director of Armscare, which operates six care homes in Norfolk, claimed the local fire service had intensified its enforcement of regulations. He stated that fire officers had requested evidence demonstrating that his homes could be fully evacuated within the recommended 150 seconds.

However, Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service maintained that there had been no recent changes to fire safety regulations for care homes.

Mr Sehgal argued that carrying out regular evacuation drills would pose unnecessary risks to elderly and frail residents, as well as causing distress.

'Real world'

"All of a sudden, in the last two years [there] seems to be a new breed of fire officer that is very NVARCHAR(MAX)book driven," he said.
"I don't know which planet they live off, because they don't live in the real world."

He added: "Fire safety is exceptionally important and everybody wants to work with the fire officers to ensure that we provide the maximum amount of safety for our residents, but we have to be realistic in terms of what we can do and how we can demonstrate it."

Norfolk County Council provides fire services in the area.

"I would hazard a guess that you couldn't evacuate County Hall in 15 minutes, let alone 150 seconds," Mr Sehgal said.

Armscare, a private care home provider, stated that the financial burden of meeting fire safety requirements was also impacting other operators, including Norse Care.

Norse Care, which is owned by Norfolk County Council, recently announced that Linden Court in Watton would close in April. The company had previously shut down Springdale in Brundall near Norwich and Burman House in Terrington St John near King's Lynn last year.

According to Jo Huxtable, the company’s senior director, a combination of rising social care costs, changes in fire safety regulations, and a lack of investment had rendered Linden Court "no longer suitable" for residents.

Government guidance from as far back as 2006 stated that "it should be possible under normal operating conditions to evacuate any given protected area in two and a half minutes".

Emyr Gough, head of prevention and protection at Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, emphasised that the service was legally obliged to ensure that care home staff could evacuate residents in accordance with official guidelines.

"Public safety and resident safety is our officers' number one priority," he said.
"We regularly hold engagement sessions with care home and business owners to improve fire safety standards and put measures in place to help prevent these emergencies occurring.
"We are always open to conversations on how we can improve fire safety standards in a way that is suitable for care homes and their residents."