Cleveland Retrofitted Tall Building Kitchen Saved By Sprinkler System

 Image credit CFB

“This incident again demonstrates the dangers associated with the use of chip pans, Cleveland Fire Brigade urge members of the public to switch to safer alternative methods of cooking.  We applaud the landords approach to ensuring the safety of its residents through the installation of sprinkler systems, without these this incident could have been catastrophic.” Says Matty Stather, Fire Engineering Station Manager at Cleveland Fire Brigade.

“Sprinkler systems are a highly effective, reliable and a cost-effective fire safety measure that can save lives, reduce injuries, protect our firefighters who attend incidents, provide peace of mind for our residents, and reduce property damage. Cleveland Fire Brigade is committed to reducing risk to its communities and the installation of sprinklers by residential properties, businesses, schools, and care homes will help achieve this.” Continued Matty Stather

Summary

Our thanks to Cleveland Fire Brigade (CFB) for reporting this positive news story reaffirming the importance of reporting sprinkler saves to Sprinkler Saves UK following a kitchen fire within a residential purpose-built block of flats extinguished by the operation of the premises residential sprinkler system.

A sprinkler save is categorised as where one or more sprinkler heads have activated and contained, controlled or in some cases, extinguished a building fire. Each of these real-life individual tangible stories provides powerful evidence of the ability of sprinklers as part of an appropriate package of fire safety measures.

• Reducing the impact of fire on people, property and the environment, reducing the risks to firefighters.
• Addressing the myths, misconceptions regarding their safety and efficiency, providing evidence of the ability of sprinklers to protect our communities from fire.

For this reported fire, the benefits of

• Retrofitting a residential sprinkler system within the dwellings, common ways of a single staircase purpose-built block of flats of 12 storeys.
• Preventing a potential major protracted incident, which can lead to a significant strain on the operational resilience of Fire Rescue Service (FRS) resources, leading to challenges maintaining a business-as-usual service.
• Incorporating a robust emergency plan allowing for the immediate attendance of an on-call response team to reinstate the sprinkler system
• Debunking the myth that residential sprinklers as an extinguishing media should not be used on fires involving chip pans.

The benefit of retrofitting life safety sprinkler systems by the landlord within their residential tall building property portfolio was demonstrated following reports of an accidental fire involving a chip pan fire, two persons were present in the dwelling at the time of the fire who self-evacuated with no injuries reported before the arrival of CFB.

The heat generated from the fire, activated 1 sidewall sprinkler head within the kitchen, located 1.5m away from the seat of the fire, which allowed a fire signal to be transmitted to the remote alarm receiving centre allowing the appropriate emergency response. The operation of the sprinkler system restricted the growth of the fire, extinguishing the fire before the arrival of CFB.

Providing further weight to the reliability and effectiveness of sprinkler systems following the report conducted by ¹Optimal Economics, and commissioned by the National Fire Chiefs Council, National Fire Sprinkler Network into the performance, reliability, and effectiveness of sprinkler systems in controlling and extinguishing fires.

The reports found that:

• Sprinklers are 99% efficient in extinguishing or controlling a fire.
• Sprinklers are 94% efficient in their ability to operate.

The provision of a sprinkler system does not neglect the need for other fire practical precautions or provisions where the person is at higher-than-average risk from fire, unable to self-evacuate in the event of a fire.

The Incident

• Fire crews were mobilised by CFB fire control at 18:17 to a fire following an emergency call received from the landlord’s remote alarm receiving centre.
• Resulting in the mobilisation of 4 pumping appliances, 1 aerial appliance.
• Following the completion of a dynamic risk assessment by the incident commander (IC) it was established that the sprinkler system on the 11 floor of the 12-storey building had operated with in a flat.
• The provision of the sprinkler system provided extra time for the IC to implement a robust operational high rise tactical plan for the incident.
• Upon entry to the flat, fire crews established that a fire within a kitchen had been contained, controlled and extinguished by the activation of 1 sidewall sprinkler head located within the room of origin.
• The cause of the fire was cooking left unattended involving a chip pan which caught light
• Minimal fire/smoke damage was reported within the compartment of origin.
• No further firefighting media was required by CFB.
• The sprinkler system for the individual flat was isolated by CFB following confirmation to the IC that the fire was all out.
• Two residents self-evacuated before the arrival of CFB, no injuries were reported.
• The sprinkler system was reinstated at 22:13 hours

All images credit CFB        

Image 1 Seat of the fire with limited smoke/fire damage.                            

 Image 2 Minor fire damage sustained to the ceiling  above the fire.

Image 3 Position of sidewall sprinkler head.                    

 Image 4 Sidewall sprinkler head.                                     

  Image 5 Concealed sidewall sprinkler cover plate.          

Image 6 location of flat isolation valve located in ceiling void in the common ways above the flat front door.

Premises emergency plan

Due to the provision of a robust emergency plan protocols were in place allowing firefighters to interact with the sprinkler system allowing the system to be isolated following the orders of the IC when it was identified the fire was all out.

The problem, post fire sprinkler saves reported where buildings have been identified as affected by water egress following the successful activation of the sprinkler system containing, controlling or in some cases extinguishing the fire, predominately due to.

• Poor business continuity management, inadequate onsite emergency planning by the building manager or responsible person for the fire safety arrangements within a building.
• Allowing onsite information to be available for firefighters to interact with the building active fire safety measures namely automatic water fire suppression systems.

There is now a high probability that firefighters will attend a variety of incidents where sprinklers systems are reported as present and having an impact within these types of buildings.

The provision of a robust emergency plan will allow an immediate emergency response to be actioned by the FRS to assist in the management of water from the activation of the sprinkler system following a fire or even following the unlikely likelihood of un-intentional release of water, due to the knock-on effect this can have on a business or occupancy. Debunking the myth that water damage following the actuation of the sprinkler system will be more expensive than the actual damage resulting from the fire.

Demonstrating that a correctly designed and installed sprinkler system can detect, raise the alarm and control or in this case extinguish a fire at an early stage of development.

CFB maintaining a business-as-usual service

Austerity, cuts in public funding across the country have significantly impacted FRS resulting in a significant reduction to front line cover and prevention and protection activities putting a strain on resources impacting on public safety and service delivery.

Major protracted fire incidents therefore have a knock-on effect on local FRS resources, leading to challenges maintaining a business-as-usual service allowing an effective response to attend other emergencies. The benefits of installing sprinkler systems in the built environment for FRS should not be underestimated.

• Reduces the rate of production of heat and smoke, limiting fire development preventing flash over providing the FRS.

1. With a further layer of protection for firefighters.
2. Crucial time for the operational tactical plan to be implemented by the IC, complete search and rescue operations.
3. Resources released earlier from the incident, to attend other emergency incidents allowing a business-as-usual service to be maintained.

For FRS the early release of resources is paramount, CFB have six whole time stations and 10 on call stations mainly in rural areas. For this incident 4 pumping appliances, 1 aerial platform were  mobilised as part of the predetermined attendance. Due to the positive impact of the sprinkler system on the fire, the incident stop message was sent 1 hour after the initial call allowing the release of all resources to be available to attend other emergencies.

Retrofitting Sprinkler systems within tall residential buildings

At present there is no statutory legislation for the retrofitting of sprinklers within residential tall buildings. This incident demonstrates the benefits of installing, retrofitting sprinklers within residential tall buildings, demonstrating that a correctly designed and installed sprinkler system can detect, raise the alarm and control or for this incident extinguish the fire at an early stage of development.

In addition to providing attending crews with confidence when attending tall building fires which are sprinkler protected compared to other buildings which are not sprinkler protected.

¹Optimal economics report, Efficiency and Effectiveness of sprinkler systems in the Uk: An Analysis from fire service data

Sources/further reading. 

• Sprinkler Saves Review 2023/2024
• Sprinkler saves Spring Update No 7
• BAFSA Information file, A guide for Responsible Persons and Duty Holder
• Efficiency and Effectiveness of sprinkler systems in the Uk
• Cleveland Fire Brigade
• BAFSA video chip pan demonstration, click here to open chip pan fire

If you want to make a difference working in the fire sector, we need your assistance……

To make sprinklers the norm and not the exception – we need the evidence. Encouraging FRS and those in the sprinkler community to promote, collate, report sprinkler activations to Sprinkler Saves UK which will help to create a central and comprehensive record of fire incidents where sprinklers played their role in containing/controlling or extinguishing the fire.

If you hear of a save report it using this link.