Sprinklers save Scottish workshop

Nov27
2011 Written by admin

The effectiveness of sprinklers in loss-prevention was underlined when a fire at a factory in Inverness-shire was successfully extinguished in 15 minutes.

The fire took place on the 1st November at around 07:45 when an Acetylene torch manifold failed in a timber processing factory.

The sprinkler system was quickly activated, bringing the fire under control within 15 minutes and leaving just 10% of the workshop damaged. The sprinkler also played a vital role in cooling the gas cylinder that supplied the torch, mitigating the danger of an explosion.

18 fire fighters from Highlands & Islands fire and rescue service attended the scene and continued to cool the cylinder until they were certain the danger was passed.

Ross Nixon of Highlands & Islands Fire and Rescue Service, passed the information on to the National Fire Sprinkler Network, a not for profit group who campaign for better use and development of sprinkler technology.

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Public urged to sign sprinkler e-petition

Oct31
2011 Written by admin

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service is encouraging the public to sign an e-petition to make sprinklers compulsory in all new dwellings. If the petition receives the backing of 100,000 people, it could be debated in Parliament. The petition comes following the recent introduction of a law in Wales, which will make sprinklers compulsory in all new homes. Technical fire safety group manager at Wiltshire, Julian Parsons said: “Put simply, sprinklers are the equivalent to having a firefighter ready and waiting in every room of your home. There are a lot of misunderstandings out there regarding how sprinklers work, but the reality is that they only actually activate when the temperature reaches over 68ºC because of a fire and even then they only activate in affected rooms.” Wiltshire had the first social housing estate in Europe to be fitted with sprinklers, at Studley Green in Trowbridge. Parsons said evidence shows that no one has ever died in a fire when their home was fitted with a sprinkler system. He added: “The Welsh Government has recognised this, which is why they have now introduced legislation – we would like to see similar laws introduced here in England.” To pledge your support for the petition, click here and search for sprinklers.

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Waterstones fire, sprinkler system does its job

Oct15
2011 Written by admin

Sprinkler systems installed in a three-storey Waterstones bookshop in Guildford probably saved the building and neighbouring businesses after a fire broke out.

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service were called the store just before 7.15pm on Sunday 25 September. Six appliances and an aerial support attended the scene.

The fire started in the cafe area on the first floor of the 400 sq m building. Fire sprinklers in the shop extinguished the fire and firefighters left the scene soon after 10.30pm.

The fire service said if it was not for the fire sprinkler system damage would have been much worse. It said: “Sprinklers saved the building and others.”

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Fire service and NHS fit sprinkler systems to protect the vulnerable

Sep27
2011 Written by admin

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service is working alongside local NHS teams to deliver domestic sprinkler systems to the homes of vulnerable people.

Under the arrangement, a group from NHS Hull, known as the Long Condition Team, refer likely candidates to the fire service.

Community safety staff from the service then deliver home safety visits to high risk groups. As part of the work they do, the group aims to provide information and advice to residents and businesses about staying safe from fire.

According to the service, a vulnerable Hull resident had a sprinkler system fitted at his home after he was referred to firefighters. He lives alone, is a smoker and has shown early signs for dementia, the service said.

Assistant chief fire officer, Daryl Oprey, said: “Currently very few domestic sprinkler systems are installed in the Humberside area. However we need to increase the scale of these installations and the Service is committed to doing so. We will continue to work in partnership with other organisations to identify and install these life saving systems where they are needed the most. This installation is a perfect example of two organisations working together to increase the safety of vulnerable people.”

Funding has been set aside specifically to make the lives of the “high risk” residents safer, which may include the installation of more sprinkler systems.

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New report on sprinkler performance published

Aug08
2011 Written by admin

A new report on fire sprinkler performance and use in the United States has been published by the National Fire Protection Association.

US Experience with Sprinklers, published in May 2011, includes statistics on how often sprinklers are reported in fires by property use, and their estimated impact in reducing the average loss of life and property per fire.

The report also includes statistics on performance, usage and reliability of sprinklers, as well as reasons when system fail to operate, or operate but are ineffective.

Of reported structure fires in 2005-2009, an estimated 9% showed sprinklers present, with 57% of fires in health care properties reporting sprinklers present. Manufacturing facilities, hotels and motels, prisons, dormitory and barrack accommodation had sprinklers reported in around half of reported fires.

Sprinkler installation is still comparatively uncommon in educational properties (34% of fires), stores and offices (23%), public assembly properties (21%), and homes (6%), where most fire deaths occur.

Sprinklers operated effectively in 87% of all reported fires where they were present in the fire area and the fire was large enough to activate them.

According to the 2009 American Housing Survey, 4.6% of occupied homes (including multi-unit homes) had sprinklers, up from 3.9% in 2007, and 18.5% of occupied homes built in the previous four years had sprinklers.

Download the US Experience with Sprinklers

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New European standard for fire safety services

Mar26
2011 Written by admin

Work on a new European standard for fire safety and security system services is due to get underway next month.

The newly created project committee – CEN/CLC TC4: Services for fire safety and security systems – will work on the competence and quality of services for the planning and design, engineering, installation, maintenance and repair of fire safety and security systems.

Consultant and hotel fire safety campaigner, Alan Cox, has been appointed to sit on the committee as the representative of the European consumer group, ANEC.

According to CEN the benefits of such a standard would be the provision of an equal level field for competition of service providers at European level, and an increased openness and accountability for customers.

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New fire safety guidance for residential care homes

Mar11
2011 Written by admin

New, additional guidance for operators of residential care premises has been published to enhance the existing government fire risk assessment guide for the sector.

The additional guidance, published by the National Association for Safety and Health in Care Services (NASHiCS) and the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA), is designed to deal with issues including:

  • evacuation of a protected zone in 2.5 minutes
  • rooms of residents unable to evacuate – upgrading to 60 minutes fire resistance
  • staff remaining with residents who are unable to evacuate
  • the use of external fire escapes by residents
  • the travel distance of evacuation routes
  • the use of by-pass routes.

The additional guidance has been published to provide operators with a better understanding of the existing CLG guide and how it helps to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

The new guidance has been devised with the underlying principles that the safety of occupants is paramount; that staff training on the awareness and reduction of fire safety risk and evacuation techniques is vital; that risk should be reduced as low as reasonably practicable, as required by law; that there should be sufficient levels of staff to effect the fire safety strategy for a premises; and that the fire safety strategy should always take into account the ability of the building to withstand the spread of fire and smoke travel.

“It was felt that certain parts of the CLG guide required further clarification to allow residential care operators to fully understand their role within the [Fire Safety Order],” said David Hulton, lead member of the NASHiCS fire safety working group. “NASHiCS are very pleased that this guidance document is now being launched as it will provide valuable additional information for residential care premise operators.”

Chair of the CFOA enforcement group, Nick Coombe, added: “It has taken a long time and a lot of hard work from a number of people to get us this far. All at CFOA are delighted that the document is now complete.”

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Residential sprinklers legislation passed by the Welsh Assembly

Feb18
2011 Written by admin

All new homes in Wales will have to have an automatic suppression system fitted after the Welsh Assembly yesterday (16th Feb 2011) voted unanimously to introduce the measure.

The Domestic Fire Safety (Wales) Measure will apply to residences including dwelling houses, flats, residential care homes, educational residential accommodation and houses in multiple occupation.

In November last year, the general principles of the bill received unanimous approval by assembly members, and last month it went through detailed consideration in its committee stages.

Ann Jones, assembly member for the Vale of Clwyd who introduced the measure, told BBC News:

“After three years of campaigning and scrutiny we have seen a compelling moral and technical case for this life-saving device which has been working for decades in, amongst other places, cities in the USA and Canada.

“With sprinklers fitted, new homes in Wales will be amongst the safest in the world and that will go for new care homes and university accommodation too.

“Over 100 people have died in house fires in Wales since 2004 and we now know that sprinklers could have saved many of these lives.”

According to a memorandum accompanying the measure, a failure to meet the duty of providing an automatic fire suppression system will be treated as equivalent to a breach of building regulations and subject to similar enforcement action.

The measure will go before the Privy Council on 7 April for formal approval.

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Hotel fire alarm praised for reducing fire spread

Jan28
2011 Written by admin

27 January 2011

A fire alarm system has been praised for providing early detection of a blaze in a plant room at a Hampshire hotel.

Station commander Ryan Thomas, of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, said that without the fire alarm, he had “no doubt” the fire would have spread to the roof of the Beach Arms Hotel in Basingstoke.

“If the hotel not had a well-maintained smoke alarm system, I have no doubt that this fire could potentially have spread beyond the room of origin and seriously damaged the roof of the hotel, if not the whole building,” he said.

“The effective evacuation of staff and hotel residents at today’s incident should be commended, as should the successful actions of the fire crews that tackled the blaze.”

More than 30 firefighters attended the fire, which started in the building’s boiler room on the first floor.The alarm was raised just after midday and police cordoned off the area to allow firefighters in with an aerial ladder platform, a special equipment unit and an incident command unit.

Speaking about the fire, Thurman said: “Essentially we were facing a serious fire in the first floor plant room of the hotel. Two members of staff had attempted to tackle the blaze with a fire extinguisher, however the hotel manager took the right course of action by swiftly evacuating the whole premises and alerting the fire and rescue service.”

An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

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Underground car park blaze leads to call for sprinklers

Jan28
2011 Written by admin

02 November 2010

An underground car park in the Dutch City of Haarlem has been severely damaged by a fire which also destroyed at least 26 cars.

According to the European Fire Sprinkler Network (EFSN), smoke from the fire spread to a court building and concert theatre, and heat from the fire damaged the structure of the car park.

The news website Dutchnews.nl reported that the fire broke out last Tuesday evening and led to the evacuation of nearby hotels and cafes. The fire brigade eventually got the blaze under control by flooding the lower deck of the car park.

EFSN also reports that Cynthia Ortega-Martijn, a Dutch member of parliament, has called for a change in the law so that hospitals, care homes, schools and car parks are fitted with sprinklers.

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