Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We can confirm that Essex County Fire & Rescue Service does hold the information you have requested.
Questions and final response:
Question 1 – Would you be able to provide me a list of buildings that require Waking Watch in the Essex area to date, or advise me where I would be able to obtain this?
Essex County Fire & Rescue Service (ECFRS) can confirm that within the ECFRS area, there are three buildings that have a ‘waking watch’ in operation at this current time.
We are unable to provide a list of these buildings, we exempt your request under Section 38 (1) (b).
38 Health and safety. (1) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to— (a)endanger the physical or mental health of any individual, or
(b)endanger the safety of any individual.
We believe the release of the names of these buildings would endanger the safety of people resident in the buildings concerned; there are concerns that the names of buildings needing waking watches or other interim fire safety measures in residential use, could be used by those with malicious intent (such as terrorists or arsonists) to attack or otherwise compromise the safety of these buildings and their residents.
Section 38 is a qualified exemption, and I must consider the public interests for and against disclosure.
We clearly understand that there is public interest and concern about knowing about the fire safety of the buildings in which people live, work or visit.
Releasing a full list of properties identified by name and location, that are known to be vulnerable to the effects of a fire or would be useful intelligence and assistance to a terrorist group (or similar, should they be contemplating an attack on a residential building) could compromise the safety of these buildings and their residents.
I am therefore of the view that it is in the public interest not to disclose the information you have requested.
We hope you find this information useful.
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Incident and other data is published on our transparency site. Incident Data (essexfire.gov.uk).
Please note that the response and data released to you as part of this request will be published on our website http://transparency.essex-fire.gov.uk/.
All requests will be anonymised and no personal information including contact details will be disclosed as part of this process.
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Thank you for your interest in Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, we hope this satisfies your request.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to apply for an internal review.
Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of your original email and should be sent to informationgovernance@essex-fire.gov.uk or sent to our postal address: Internal Review, Information Governance Team, Kelvedon Park, Rivenhall, Witham, Essex CM8 3HB.
Please ensure you quote the above reference number in all future communications