Melbourne’s Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) has strongly criticised the response to last year’s blaze at the Lacrosse apartments in the city’s Docklands, which spread rapidly due to the presence of flammable building cladding.

In a new report recommending regulatory reform, the brigade says the Victorian Building Authority’s (VBA) response has been “painfully slow” and the issue of non-compliant material “remains unresolved and uncertain”.

“The risk to residents remains,” it says.

The VBA is auditing central Melbourne high-rise buildings and has identified several featuring cladding similar to that used on the Lacrosse apartments.

But it is unclear whether further audits outside the CBD will take place, the MFB says.

The report recommends reforms to building regulation, including tougher laws on sprinklers.

The brigade believes that if not for the Lacrosse sprinklers working above capacity, there could easily have been fatalities.

Buildings below 25 metres are currently not required to have sprinklers installed, but the MFB says this is too risky.

“In circumstances where combustible external cladding catches fire in a building with a height of less than 25 metres, which is not sprinkler-protected, the risk to occupants and firefighters is unacceptable,” the report says.

It also recommends mandatory sprinkler heads on balconies, which could have contained the Lacrosse fire.

Responding to the report, the VBA says the MFB took five months to deliver its own findings on the fire, and this held up the investigation and audit.

CEO Prue Digby says investigating practitioners involved in the Lacrosse building is “a highly complex process that must be conducted thoroughly, comprehensively and according to the principles of natural justice”.

“The VBA is the national leader in conducting an audit of non-compliant use of cladding material,” she said.

“It has liaised closely with the MFB and the City of Melbourne on all facets of its audit and shared not only the results but the parameters and criteria under which it was conducted.”

She says the audit is close to completion and the results have been progressively published on the VBA website.

“To date, where non-compliance has been identified, the buildings have been declared as safe to occupy by the Municipal Building Surveyor.”