FIREFIGHTERS and disability campaigners have slammed the government’s rejection of proposals to make disabled people safer in high-rise flats following the Grenfell Tower fire disaster.

Recommendations for better evacuation procedures for disabled people in emergencies were made by the long-running Grenfell Tower inquiry.

The tower block fire on June 14 2017 killed 72 people. The dead included 15 of the 37 disabled people who lived in the west London block.

The inquiry recommended that “personal emergency evacuation plans” (Peeps) be drawn up for every disabled resident of high-rise blocks. 

It said that the plans would be the responsibility of the buildings’ owners and managers and be based on the needs of each individual disabled resident.

But the government has rejected the recommendation on the grounds of “practicality, proportionality and safety” despite having promised to accept the inquiry’s proposals.

It also argued that if special equipment had to be installed to save disabled people such as evacuation chairs, there would be an “impact on the good relations between disabled residents and non-disabled residents if disproportionate costs were passed on to the latter.”

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) responded angrily yesterday and has written to building safety minister Lord Greenhalgh, calling for the government to think again.

General secretary Matt Wrack said: “The FBU argues that resident safety is paramount, so there is a greater safety issue in declining to implement Peeps.

“As for proportionality, the inquiry has found the introduction of Peeps to be a proportionate strategy, and the FBU agrees.

“The government’s decision is a negative backward step, and the FBU stands with disability campaigners, the Grenfell campaign groups and the Government Association in asking you to reconsider.”

The Disabled People Against Cuts campaign group condemned the decision.

The group said: “As we already know this government has no interest in trying to prevent the unnecessary deaths of disabled people whether through lack of protection during the pandemic, vicious disability assessments, slashing of social care budgets or continuing to ignore calls for essential additional safety measures for disabled people living in high-rise buildings. 

“Their treatment of disabled people continues to be scandalous, verging on criminal."