Energy renovations must be fire safe: keep fire safety in EPBD Art 8

Ahead of the COREPER meeting scheduled on 28th September, Euralarm together with 9 other organisations, working on improving the fire safety of European citizens have expressed their concerns on the latest compromise (REV3) proposed by the Czech presidency for the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

There are more than 5,000 fire deaths in the European Union (EU) per year and a multitude of burn survivors who have been marked or scarred for the rest of their lives. Most fires occur in buildings, and are preventable. With the appropriate regulatory framework, we can protect thousands of people in Europe against fire in the built environment.

The revision of the EPBD is an unmissable opportunity to consider building renovation in a holistic way, placing the fire safety of EU citizens at its heart. The Renovation Wave initiated by the European Commission to reach the climate objectives set by the European Green Deal will boost the renovation of the EU building stock and has the opportunity to keep citizens fire safe. The European Union has already included fire safety in the previous EPBD revision, and now has the opportunity to build on that by integrating better fire safety provisions into the EPBD recast.

Read the Joint Statement here.

Euralarm published a Briefing on this topics here.