Coventry high rise residential bin store fire

On the evening of the 8 August, 2021,  West Midlands Fire Rescue Service despatched crews from four local fire stations Foleshill, Coventry, Binley and Canley. Following reports of the bin store being alight at Faulkner House, Stoney a 17 storey residential block of flats.

On arrival it was identified that the automatic fire suppression system had operated suppressing the fire protecting both residents and firefighters.

Dangers of bin store fires

It should be noted that the outcome of a communal bin store fire can have a dramatic effect on the safety of the residents, specifically where refuse chutes and access hatches can sometimes be found directly opening onto protected corridors, lobbies and stairs, so providing the potential for the spread of fire and smoke to the common escape routes.

It is therefore best practice In these situations  :-

1. Automatic fire-resisting shutter should be fitted at the base of the refuse chute to restrict the spread of fire and smoke from a fire in the bin room. The shutter should, as a minimum, be operated on a fixed temperature fusible link.
2. Bespoke sprinkler system, Further protection can be provided by the installation of a sprinkler system located over the bins, with either frangible bulb or fusible link sprinkler heads, or open sprinkler heads with water discharge controlled by smoke detectors. The provision of sprinklers should always be considered where access hatches open into protected stairways or lobbies containing more than two flat entrance doors

Housing providers across the country are recognising the danger of these type of fires, London Borough Barking & Dagenham for example , reduced  the risk by the retrofitting of  sprinklers into all their high rise residential block bin stores, 22 in total. Following match funding received from the London Fire Brigade (£84,250) to help fund this initiative.