Fire Sprinkler and Fire Protection News

Sprinklers save lives

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 07:30:00 +0000

FIREFIGHTERS set two Glasgow flats ablaze to show how sprinkler systems could save lives.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/flats-set-ablaze-to-show-sprinklers-save-lives-1.1131340

Campaign is launched to fit more sprinklers

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:30:00 +0000

FIRE fighters are trying to dampen myths surrounding sprinkler systems and urging more people to have them installed because they save lives.

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/9327850.Campaign_is_launched_to_fit_more_sprinklers/

Judge says the factory should have had a Fire Sprinkler System.

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:09:00 +0000

ADT has been found liable for the failure of a Co2 systems and has cost them £25m. However the building owned by Trebor Bassett Holdings also contributed to the loss by failing to provide adequate fire separation and a fire sprinkler system so the £110m claim for damages was reduced by 75%. You can read the full judgement

BS 9991 - Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

The Draft British Standard BS 9991 : Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings has been published for public comment. All comments must by submitted to BSi by the 15 October 2011 and a draft can be vied on the BSI website at drafts.bsigroup.com

The standard included many references to fire sprinkler and watermist fire protection systems and if adopted will undoubtedly increase the market for both sprinkler and watermist systems.

Sprinkler System in Shopping Centre Attacked by Mob Contains Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:57:00 +0000

'Mark O'Meara from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service reports that on Tuesday 9th August a severe fire occurred in a shop unit at the Salford Centre, Manchester, during the riots that affected the city.

The centre manager indicated that the sprinklers activated and although it struggled with the size of the fire it still contained it until FRS extinguished it. The fire was contained to the unit, the centre is still operating.

Greater Manchester Fire Service reported 155 fires across Manchester city centre and Salford during the time the unrest was taking place and so details of the incident are sketchy at present.'
This is an important demonstration that properly designed sprinkler systems will cope with even extreme circumstances and that sprinklers are an effective counter to deliberately started fires.

http://www.bafsa.org.uk/snews_full.php?id=00001031

Fire Sprinklers 96% effective

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:54:00 +0000

A major new report published by the NFPA has just been published which includes statistics on how often sprinkler are installed, and there effectives. The report also shows that almost 5% of the homes have sprinkler and 20% of homes built in the previous four years have sprinkler fitted.

You can read the full document U.S. EXPERIENCE WITH SPRINKLERS

"The difference between life and death,"

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:20:00 +0000

"The difference between life and death," is how one fire service has described the use of automatic sprinklers in homes.

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue service is supporting calls from the Chief Fire Officers Association for a change in the law to force all new homes to be fitted with the sprinklers.

BBC News - Warwickshire Fire Service makes case for sprinkler law

Domestic Sprinkler not it again

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Tue, 10 May 2011 11:03:00 +0000

Fire sprinkler in the home do work!

Amplify’d from www.info4fire.com

Domestic sprinkler contains fire in Wiltshire house
12 January 2011

A house in Trowbridge escaped being badly damaged by fire last week, thanks to the activation of a domestic sprinkler system.
Fire crews were called to the property shortly after 6.30pm, but found the blaze had been extinguished by sprinklers. As a result, damage was minimal and, said Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, there was no risk to the occupants who were downstairs at the time.
Although the exact cause of the fire remains unclear, there were no suspicious circumstances.
The Studley Green estate is said to have been the first housing development in Europe to be fitted with domestic sprinklers following its rebuild in 1999.
Read more at www.info4fire.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a122sp

Restaurant owner pays over £13,000 for fire safety breaches

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:46:00 +0000

Restaurant owner pays over £13,000 for fire safety breaches

Amplify’d from www.info4fire.com

The former joint proprietor of a restaurant which also included sleeping accommodation for staff has been fined £8,600 and ordered to pay £4,837 in costs for 12 fire safety breaches.
Patipat Kansikam of the Red Lion (Pad Thai) restaurant in Wokingham pleaded guilty last month to the offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, but the case was adjourned to 6 April for sentencing.
Read more at www.info4fire.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a119rg

Penhallow Hotel company pleads guilty to fire safety charges

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:00:00 +0000

The company that owned the Penhallow Hotel where three people died in a fire in August 2007 has admitted breaches of fire safety legislation.

O & C Holdsworth plc pleaded guilty to two offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005: failing to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment; and failing to ensure the hotel was properly equipped with detectors and alarms. The company pleaded not guilty to a third charge of failing to ensure the safety of relevant persons. The case has been adjourned to 4 May when O & C Holdsworth plc is due be sentenced.

Last year, an inquest into the deaths of the three guests – Joan Harper, Monica Hughes and Peter Hughes, all from Staffordshire – returned an open verdict.

Warwickshire Fire Service managers are to face charges of manslaughter

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:47:00 +0000

The Crown Prosecution Service has announced that 3 Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service managers are to face charges of manslaughter by gross negligence, for the deaths of four firefighters in a warehouse in Atherstone-on-Stour, in 2007. Ian Reid, John Averis, Ashley Stephens and Darren Yates-Bradley all died in the fire at Wealmoor Ltd, November 2, 2007.

Read More: Warwickshire Fire Service managers are to face charges of manslaughter | Fire Magazine

Fire contractor fined £5,000 for poor work.

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 07:00:00 +0000

In what is thought to be the first case of its kind, a fire system contractor has been convicted under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Christopher Morris, 56, of Llandudno, a former retained firefighter, appeared at Manchester Crown Court yesterday and was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 costs.

Last week at Trafford Magistrates Court, Mr Morris pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to maintain a fire detection and alarm system at a care home in Trafford, Greater Manchester, and failing to inform the owners of the deficiencies in the system.

Magistrates heard that enforcement officers commissioned a specialist examination of the fire alarm panel after a fire at the care home in May 2009. Among the deficiencies found were:

A blown fuse overridden with a piece of wire
An electronic component suspended between two terminal bocks instead of being attached to the circuit board
An alarm silence/fault warning buzzer missing from the circuit board
The fault warning light on the front face of the panel had been almost covered by paint

According to the prosecution, Christopher Morris, an electrician who had taken over the maintenance of the system in 2006, had issued several annual certificates of worthiness to the care home owner.
Deputy county fire officer, Jim Owen, said: “Whilst many owners have been prosecuted under the Fire Safety Order, this may be the first time a fire and rescue authority has prosecuted someone contracted by the owner of a property to maintain a fire alarm. Taking on such a contract extends the requirements of the Order to the fire alarm engineer. Anyone we find who doesn’t carry out their work to recognised standards is a danger, and we won’t hesitate to take action.”

Read more (infoforfire)

Sprinklers Prevent Serious Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:50:00 +0000

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service Reports:

A house in Trowbridge escaped being badly damaged by fire last week, thanks to an innovative fire safety system.

The Studley Green estate was the first housing development in Europe to be fitted with domestic sprinklers, following its rebuild in 1999. On Thursday 6 January, a property in Kingswood Chase had its sprinklers activated when fire broke out in a first floor bedroom.

Two crews from Trowbridge fire station were called to the address at 6.38pm, but found the blaze had been extinguished by the sprinklers. As a result, the fire damage was minimal, and there was no risk to the house's occupants, who were downstairs at the time. Although the exact cause of the fire remains unclear, there were no suspicious circumstances.

Read More

Care home severely damaged by fire

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Around 45 firefighters have tackled a blaze at a timber frame building used as residential care home for disabled people.

The fire started in the roof of the chalet-style building, in Barham, near Canterbury. The fire, reported around 11.30 on 9 November, spread quickly throughout the building. The home is a residential care home for the disabled, but was empty at the time. Fire crews had the incident under control by 1.30pm. An aerial ladder platform remained on the scene until after 9pm, to dampen down hotspots on the roof. Most - if not all - of the residents’ possessions were destroyed.

Sprinkler System works again

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +0000

A sprinkler system has contained what may have been a major fire at a factory in Staffordshire.
Around 50 staff were evacuated from IMI Norgren in Lichfield after an industrial press caught fire in the early hours of Wednesday 27 October. Some 40 firefighters were called to deal with the incident, but the activation of the sprinklers meant that they were not all needed.

The damage was limited to the machinery and some slight heat damage to the roof directly above. Once the fire was out, crews used hose reel jets to cool the machinery and then ventilated the factory. Sprinklers are fitted throughout the manufacturing and storage areas of the site.

Speaking later that morning, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service station manager Mick Jahn said: "The activation of the sprinklers meant we were able to quickly bring the fire under control and allow some of the appliances to leave the incident, so they were available for other emergencies. We would probably still be there dealing the fire now had the sprinklers not been in use.

"We’d urge all businesses to fit sprinkler systems. As this incident has highlighted they do prevent the spread of fires, and so minimise the economic cost of a fire - which is even more important during these difficult financial times."

Poundstretcher fined £55,000 over fire escapes

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Only one out of six fire exits could be used in a busy bargain store, Leeds Crown Court was told, and the consequences of a fire at Poundstretcher in Castleford could have been "frankly appalling," said Judge Jonathan Rose.

The store on Carlton Street would have been a "death trap," he declared. Yesterday the judge fined the firm a total of £51,500 with £3,449 costs for seven breaches of the Fire Safety Order 2005. He pointed out that the business had twice been prosecuted last year for similar breaches at its Halifax and Wakefield stores and had been fined a total of £20,500 for those offences.

These convictions were warnings to the company but were not enough to make Poundstretcher do an urgent review of fire safety in its other stores, said the judge. "Poundstretcher had not put their house in order by October 7, 2009, when, as a result of a chance passing by a fire safety officer, it was observed that the Castleford store was failing in its duties," he said. Toni Wharton, prosecuting, said that combustible material was stored en route to one fire exit and trolleys blocked another. Persons who used a ground floor exit could have been trapped in a stairwell "like a tin of beans," she said.

Yorkshire Post

Three children died in house fire

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:23:00 +0000

Three children have sadly died in a house fire after a fire broke out at Clarence Avenue, Bridlington, shortly before midnight. Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said the children, one girl and two boys aged three, five and nine, died. The children's mother Samantha Hudson, 27, is said to be in a serious but stable condition at Scarborough General Hospital.

Mark Rhodes, head of operations for Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, said it was too early to establish the cause. He said: "We were faced at the time with a very severe house fire. Now this is a typical sort of three-storey terraced property, fire on the ground floor but very intense, very dense smoke logging right throughout the property.

Fire sprinkler for underground car parks

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 07:30:00 +0000

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.

Fire sprinkler system save lives in warehouse fire

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:42:00 +0000

THE lives of around 120 people were saved thanks to a sprinkler system that activated during a warehouse fire in Walsall.

The alarm was raised at 7.12pm last Thursday at discount store Hootys Supplies in Longacres, Willenhall. Four crews were sent to tackle the blaze, which involved large quantities of packaging materials stored on shelves below a mezzanine floor at the back of the large two-storey prefabricated premises.
The sprinklers in the immediate area helped contain the fire.

Station commander Mick Shears said: “This incident demonstrates just how important sprinklers are.

“The system stopped the fire from spreading to the retail area at the front of the building, prevented a more serious blaze and helped safeguard the lives of more than 100 people in the store at the time.”

Nursing Home Fire - Knutsford

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 07:30:00 +0000

Once again a Fire Sprinkler Installation could have prevented this fire at a nursing home in Knutsford.

Crews were called to the property just after 11pm on 1 October, where they found a first-floor bedroom well alight and smoke in the main corridor. They managed to help three residents out by the internal staircase and the other three using the external staircase.

A total of seven residents were then taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. The fire was extinguished around an hour later with one hose reel jet and a positive pressure ventiliation fan.

The bedroom was extensively damaged but the fire door prevented further spread, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said.

BBC News - Elderly residents rescued from Inverness care home fire

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 09:46:00 +0000

Dozen of elderly people have spent the night in temporary accommodation after fire destroyed a nursing home in the Inverness area. The 59 residents of Culloden Court and 12 members of staff all got out safely.

Once again this shows how vulnerable our elderly are in care homes and this fire could have easily been avoided by fitting a Residential Fire Sprinkler installation. It will not be long before life is lost in a care home and fire sprinklers become mandatory ifor care homes but lets hope that the government acts before the inevitable.

BBC News - Elderly residents rescued from Inverness care home fire

Fire Sprinkler for the most vulnerable

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:00:00 +0000

The London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority, an elected body, has approved a sprinkler policy document for London Fire Brigade. It commits London Fire Brigade to promote sprinklers in "those properties where the most significant impact can be achieved, these are schools, residential care homes, domestic premises housing the most vulnerable and commercial premises that present a significant risk due to their size, construction or use."

While most of the focus is on new buildings the policy also applies to buildings undergoing major refurbishments.

Fire at Fire Station

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 10:08:00 +0000

Firefighters in Scotland had to deal with a blaze rather close to home last weekend – in their very own fire station.

The fire was discovered by a crew commander when he entered the community station in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull shortly after 6.30 pm last Friday. He alerted the operations support centre and firefighters then removed the station’s two appliances from the engine bay and used them to tackle the fire.

The fire was extinguished by around 9.00 pm and damage was restricted to a small area of the roof void and ceiling of a lecture room.

Sprinklers contain fire at industrial recycling plant

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 21:34:00 +0000

A fire at a 250m x 100m industrial waste recycling plant in Kidderminster was contained thanks to a fire sprinkler system and the early intervention of fire crews.

Firefighters arrived after an initial call at 3.30am on Tuesday morning and immediately called for four extra pumps. A command support vehicle and environmental protection unit also attended the incident.
Three firefighters in breathing apparatus gained access to the building to help tackle the fire from inside, and two covering jets and one high pressure hose reel were also used.

Group manager Mick Cadman from Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue service said: "Thanks to the sprinkler system and the early intervention of our fire crews, the fire was contained to just one area inside one of the 12 access bays at the plant, and we were able to scale down to one pump by around 7.30am.

“Sprinklers activated in the affected area only, limiting the spread of fire and overall damage to the building while reducing the risk to firefighters tackling the blaze and the environmental impact. We'd urge all businesses to give proper consideration to this aspect of their safety planning."

http://www.info4fire.com/news-content/full/sprinklers-contain-fire-at-industrial-recycling-plant

Hotel fined £27,000 for ten offences - Fire Safety Order

noreply@blogger.com (Canute) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:29:00 +0000

Awan Investments Ltd have been found guilty of ten offences under the the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and were ordered to pay £27,000.

Awan Investments manages the Ventures hotel in the Paddington, London and after a visit from London Fire brigade they found a number of failings including blocked emergency exits wedged open.

The two defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

London Fire Brigade’s assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, Steve Turek, said: “The general public should feel safe from fire when they are staying at a hotel and the responsible person must make sure their premises comply with the regulations.”