Emergency services descended on a residential street in Eccles this week after a fire broke out at a property, with fire engines, police and paramedics attending the scene as crews worked to bring the blaze under control. While the human cost of such incidents is always the immediate concern, events like this also carry a quieter but significant message for the UK's property investment community: fire safety in residential stock, particularly older terraced housing common across Greater Manchester, is no longer a peripheral compliance issue but a central risk factor shaping insurance costs, mortgage lending decisions and landlord liability.