“Sprinklers are not a luxury – they save lives” – these are the words of a spokesperson from London Fire Brigade following a fire last week in a flat in Ilford, which was saved from being severley damaged by the activation of its sprinkler system.
According to an incident report from London Fire Brigade, the fire, which started in a ground floor flat, was mostly extinguished by the sprinkler system. Crews wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the remainder of the fire leaving a small part of the five roomed flat on the ground floor damaged by the blaze. There were no reports of any injuries.
The London Fire Brigade spokesperson added: “The numbers of buildings in London with sprinklers systems is still very low and we would like to see this increase. Automatic Fire Suppression Systems, like sprinklers, alongside other fire safety measures can greatly reduce the impact of fires on people, property, homes and communities. Sprinklers are not a luxury – they save lives and also reduce risk to the firefighters who have to tackle the fires.”
The Brigade was called at on the 27th July at 2236 and the fire was under control by 2358. Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters from Ilford, Stratford and East Ham fire stations. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
BAFSA has recently produced a speical publication focusing on only incidents in Greater London where fire sprinklers have helped protect our communities from fire. Fire Sprinklers: Greater London Review, provides powerful evidence of the role sprinklers play, as part of an appropriate package of fire safety measures, in reducing the impact of fire on people property and the environment.
The review is broken down into three key areas: a look at fire trends in Greater London for the period 2018-2021 with reference to the fire datasets captured by the IRS, an overview of fire data-sets for the same period where sprinklers were recorded as being present in three key property types – and finally a collection of AFSS sprinkler save case studies that were reported to the Sprinkler Saves website.