At 0154hrs on 27th September, Scottish F&RS received a call to a reported fire at the TK Maxx store on Phoenix retail park, Paisley. Two pumps, an aerial appliance and a salvage unit attended.
On arrival it was noted that there was a secondary fire adjacent to a roller shutter door at the store which in turn ignited property cladding at the two storey terraced building.
The premises comprises of 2 levels with ground floor general merchandise sales floor (1850m²) with staff areas and offices on the first floor mezzanine (300m²) and is of steel framed, partial brick and insulated panel construction.
The fire penetrated to the first floor internal area where 2 heads on the OH3, mains fed sprinkler installation activated within the first floor ceiling void. F&RS crews used one hose-reel jet and the fire was extinguished in 12 minutes leaving fire damage of between 10 to 15m².
Although no one was present in the building at the time, business interruption and costs were estimated at 5 hours and £20k respectively. The report states that the activation of the sprinkler system probably prevented further significant property loss.