SPRINKLERS could be installed into hostels and fire doors replaced in sheltered housing blocks as part of a series of initiatives to improve fire safety in Southend.

Southend Council has also been exploring how a major fire in one of their car parks could be prevented as part of a wider review of fire safety in the borough.

The council is currently working with Essex County Fire and Rescue Service to assess what measures are in place in the event of a major car park fire like the one that tore through a car park in Liverpool in January destroying 1,300 vehicles.

A council officer told the cabinet they have been modelling previous fires in car parks in the borough and assessing the severity of the impact should one break out.

As a result specific fire safety leaflets will be available in University Square car park and the civic centre north car park, providing easy access to building plans and information.

New fire doors will also be added at the civic centre car park.

Other initiatives include upgrading fire doors at sheltered properties by the end of 2019, the installation of sprinklers in hostels and smoke vents added to tower blocks by December 2018.

Deputy leader James Courtenay said: “It is important to note that we are not waiting for the government.

“We are taking action and in situations like this it is important that we work with the experts within the council but also with Essex Fire and Rescue Service.

“It’s also important we don’t take our eye off the ball with this.”

Southend’s councillor for public protection, Mark Flewitt, said: “I think the public is all the better for reports like this that reassure tenants, businesspeople and anybody who lives and works across the town that we have got this under constant review.

“One thing we can learn from the fire at Grenfell Tower is we mustn’t take safety for granted and if anyone did, they won’t ever again.”

In July, Southend West MP, Sir David Amess, raised concerns about the lack of sprinklers systems in tower blocks and stressed that sprinklers “save lives”. Sprinklers have been retrofitted into hostels, considered “high priority” buildings.