Sprinkler Stops
School, Tyne and Wear, 28 January 2012
Tyne and Wear F&RS have reported a sprinkler activation that took place on 28 January January 2012
An electric heat lamp in the Animal Care Classroom of Walbottle Campus, Newcastle upon Tyne malfunctioned and caused a fire at 11:13 on Saturday morning. The school's sports facilities were in use at the time with 200+ persons on site.
The three storey (10,300m²) secondary school is a newly built Newcastle City Council PFI facility, with an on-site manager employed by Aura. The fire was detected by the AFD system and a single sprinkler head in the room of origin activate which extinguished the fire.
A number of small animals (guinea pigs, gerbils, tortoise and tarantula spiders) were present in the room of origin and all survived whilst no other areas of the school were affected.
Fire-fighting action involved two appliances with eight personnel, two BA wearers entered the building for smoke clearance using positive pressure ventilation, and salvage duties were also carried out including caring for the animals.
The impact of the fire was restricted to a wooden bench and minor smoke damage to the room involved. This amounted to less than 1% of the whole building.
The school opened as normal on Monday 30 January 2012 and it is estimated that the damage to the room will be repaired within 7 days.
BAFSA Comments: This is a very good example of the value of a sprinkler system in improving tenability in a fire compartment. The survival of the animals demonstrates that sprinklers can successfully protect the lives of occupants who are unable to evacuate. The lack of fire spread and minimal impact on the school mission also show how valuable sprinklers are.
Posted on: Friday 3 February 2012
Wellingborough, Northants, 28 December 2011, Factory
At 09:30 on 28th December 2011, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service were alerted to a sprinkler activation at a 2 storey, 2500m² multi-occupied premises in Wellingborough.
Northamptonshire F&RS said that there were a number of seats of fire, indicating deliberate ignition, and it was believed the fire was started following a burglary over the Christmas break.
About 20% of the room of origin was affected by the fires but only one seat of fire, caused by paper being ignited beneath a table, caused the sprinklers to operate. Because of the shielded nature of the fire it is estimated that it took about 15 minutes for the sprinkler system to bring the fire under control. The value of assets in the room of origin were understood to be about £4k.
The system was retained in operational condition, having been installed for a previous occupancy and no fire-fighting action was required by the fire service, who deployed a total of seven personnel to the incident.
Posted on: Friday 6 January 2012
Telford, Shrosphire, 28 October 2011
28th October 2011
A fire sprinkler system saved a leading Shropshire firm from any potential production problems after fire broke out in the building.
Fire officers have praised the Telford company for its fire safety procedures in having an essential sprinkler system installed which led to a disruption free incident.
The blaze broke out on a Saturday morning in a compressor after staff had left for the day, said a company spokesman.
“Production had finished for the day when the fire alarm went off because of smoke coming from a compressor. One man went to check, saw the smoke, and called the emergency services. But the fire was quickly put out by the sprinkler system which activated immediately.
“It was business as usual with no disruption whatsoever,” said the spokesman.
Posted on: Friday 30 December 2011
Floor Products/Adhesives, Cheddleton, Staffs
About 90 workers were evacuated after a fire broke out at premises occupied by F.Ball Station Road, Cheddleton on 9 December at around 8.30am.
Staffs F&RS report that the sprinklers operated and quickly confined the fire and enabled firefighters to gain access to the location of the fire swiftly. It also allowed all of the staff in the building at the time to safely evacuate. The activation of the sprinklers allowed resounding firefighters to quickly bring the fire under control and allow the majority of the staff at F Ball to resume work.
Posted on: Friday 16 December 2011
Food Manufacturer, Warwickshire
Area Commander Greg Pace from Warwickshire F&RS has provided details of a successful sprinkler activation which took place in Bagington, Warwickshire at 0958 hours on 9th October 2011.
A fire occurred in the 20,800m², single story production facility of a well known potato crisp manufacturer, estimated to have a value of around £10 million. The facility was of portal frame construction with sandwich type outer cladding and over 60 persons were at work at the time of the incident.
One head activated during the fire which was controlled in about one minute using a mains fed supply. Damage is put at 18m² or approximately 0.1% of the total area of the building.
Because the building had complex design features with machinery and production facilities there would have been difficulty for fire crews to access any developing fire in BA plus FF media (approx 30 metres inside)and without the sprinklers the initial action may well have been defensive, with significant potential to cause large fire loss.
In the end a total of nine fire-fighters stood by to provide lighting so that clean up operations could take place.
Posted on: Monday 14 November 2011
Sawmill, Boat of Garten, Highlands & Islands
Thanks to Ross Nixon of Highlands and Islands F&RS who has notified us of a successful sprinkler activation at Boat of Garden, Inverness-shire.
At around 07:45 on 1st November 2011 a failure occurred in an acetylene torch manifold at a factory involved in processing timber . The result was that a fire took hold in the workshop area and the Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue service were called.
Fortunately the 30m² workshop had sprinklers fitted and one head activated taking 15 minutes to control the fire which resulted in 10% of the workshop being damaged. The incident had the potential to involve heating the acetylene cylinder with such heat as to cause a massive explosion but the sprinkler system not only controlled the fire but automatically cooled the cylinder, preventing such an outcome.
18 fire-fighters attended the incident who, following operational procedures, continued to cool the cylinder until the danger of explosion was nullified.
Posted on: Monday 7 November 2011
Retail Premises, Guildford, 25 September
A single sprinkler head operated to suppress a fire which reportedly started in the coffee shop area of the Waterstone's bookshop in Guildford on 25 September. Full report is attached.
Posted on: Friday 30 September 2011
Student Accommodation, Cheltenham
BAFSA Member Triangle Fire Systems Ltd reports that at just after 10 p.m. on Wednesday 14th September 2011 a chip pan fire occurred in a student accommodation block at the University campus in Devon Avenue, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
It is reported that one head activated and extinguished the fire.
Remarkably, the system had only been commissioned the previous week.
Posted on: Wednesday 28 September 2011
Updated on: Friday 30 September 2011
Bedding Factory, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear
At 0013 hrs on the morning of the 13th August 2011 Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue were called to Newcastle City Council’s owned Palatine Products, Newcastle upon Tyne which manufactures beds and mattress.
The fire call to the premises was sent from the council’s own fire alarm monitoring station.
Due to the call originating from a fire detection system the fire brigade sent one appliance. On arrival the building was secure and no sign of fire was evident.
When the main entrance door was opened it was seen that a slight amount of smoke and water was flowing from a disabled toilet off the main reception area.
Investigation of the cause and origin of the fire was readily apparent as having started in an extract fan located in the toilet ceiling.
Damage was limited to the extractor fan and wiring, also slight smoke and heat damage within the toilet. Melted plastic droppings on the floor and water damage to the reception area carpet.
Although the external sprinkler alarm gong was defective and did not warn the fire brigade that the sprinkler system had operated the system had successfully extinguished the fire by the operation of one sprinkler head.
The whole incident from call to “stop” being completed in 25 minutes.
Posted on: Wednesday 7 September 2011
Updated on: Monday 14 November 2011
Residential - Converted Warehouse, Bristol
Simon Hill of Avon Fire and Rescue Service has notified that at just after half past eleven on the night of 21st August 2011, a fire occurred in a flat on the 6th floor of the Robinson Building, residential development in one Bristol's former landmark industrial buildings.
Two sprinkler heads on the BS9251 system actuated to control what appeared to be a multi-seated fire. The sprinkler system restricted the fire so well that only 5% of the flat was damaged and the fire was classified as 'out on arrival'.
The fire was attended by three pumping and one aerial appliance and the 14 personnel had little to do though there was some light water seepage to the flat below.
No one was injured as a result of the fire with the occupier evacuating the flat due to the incident.
Posted on: Tuesday 6 September 2011