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Protecting people, property and the environment Wednesday 21 st May 2014 Recording Sprinkler Effectiveness from Fire & Rescue Services or Installers and Using the Data Slide 2 Recording sprinkler incidents Historically recorded by sprinkler engineers Recognition that only a minority of incidents are recorded or investigated. Wider acknowledgment of sprinklers in recent years Interest in FRS/CLG statistics relating to sprinklers Education of all parties involved Need for accurate information Slide 3 Why record sprinkler saves? Important evidence based data: Prove the effectiveness of sprinklers in real fires Useful for outreach and feedback Add to scientific data Highlight potential issues Reinforce or question quality of standards Slide 4 Sprinkler incidents in 2013 62 incidents notified: Factories23 Recycling3 Warehouses 3 Retail/ Entertainment11 Schools6 Hotel2 Dom/Res11 PPS3 Slide 5 So far in 2014 32 incidents notified to end last week January: TFL pump fire Space heater Camden residential block Northampton Primary School Wandsworth residential block Bluewater restaurant Ipswich clothing store Earby plastics factory Slide 6 2014 February: Wandworth nurses accommodation Basildon shopping centre Ramsgate domestic (water-mist ) Humberside PPS Hatfield shopping centre Slide 7 2014 March: Manchester HMO Redhill Flat Watford laundry (vehicle fire) Wiltshire recycling centre London restaurant Lincoln PPS London primary school London document storage facility London below ground car park London retail store Slide 8 2014 April:Minworth automotive parts factory London office block St Helens cold store loading bay Warwickshire automotive plant May:West Midlands primary school London school Essex domestic property Slide 9 Space heater activation Jan 2014 Slide 10 Peacocks clothing store Ipswich 22/1/14 Fire caused by electrical fault Time of fire just after 10 a.m. Involved clothing on racks 6 appliances mobilised Fire virtually extinguished by sprinklers Slide 11 Basildon shopping centre 5/2/14 Fire started in radio station studio on 3 rd floor Time of fire 23:35 hours High fire loading reported (plastics etc) Two heads operated Fire-fighters used dry risers and had to carry equipment up three floors to tackle remnants Fire contained to room of origin Slide 12 Hatfield shopping centre 28/2/14 Slide 13 Watford laundry 15/3/14 Fire stared in lorry in loading bay Probably caused by spontaneous combustion Time of fire 21:48 Fire contained to lorry of origin No interruption to work schedules The value of the business is approx 6.1 million. 167 people work at the business. The business has been in Watford for over 100 Years and is in the ownership of the same family. Slide 14 Working with the fire community Closer working with FRS though National Fire Sprinkler Network and CFOA New CFOA reporting form Building a network of sprinkler lead officers in FRS Gaining confidence of other parties such as installers and insurance companies Only sharing relevant information (anonymity) Involvement in initiatives such as Sprinkler week Lobbying for a more favourable attitude towards suppression systems Slide 15 Proposed changes to IRS 1.Sprinklers in room or compartment of origin? Y/N 2.Did sprinkler system operate Y/N record No of heads 3.System type? 4.System performance System operated and controlled fire: record time taken to control fire System operated but did not control fire System did not operate as and when expected System could not have been expected to operate Slide 16 Moving forward Widening the network of those submitting information Spreading the word about sprinkler saves especially to the un-initiated Capturing more detailed/accurate data about activations Submitting data to fire related working groups Taking an active role in highlighting the effectiveness of sprinklers Slide 17 Protecting people, property and the environment Thanks stevemills@bafsa.org.uk nfsn@btconnect.com