Dagenham Flat Kitchen Fire Sprinklers Save

Summary

Triangle Fire Systems Ltd reported an incident involving a fire in a residential block of flats. The life safety sprinkler system was activated and effectively extinguished a cooking-related fire within one of the dwellings.

A sprinkler save is categorised as an event where one or more sprinkler heads have activated and contained, controlled, or, in some cases, extinguished a building fire. This incident provides further evidence of the effectiveness, benefits of sprinklers as part of a comprehensive fire safety strategy for a building.

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 (NFCC), National Fire Sprinkler Network into the performance, reliability, and effectiveness of sprinkler systems in controlling and extinguishing fires.

Revealed that across all premises types: –

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

The incident

• The fire occurred in a sixth-floor flat of a nine-storey residential building.
• 1 concealed sprinkler head activated extinguishing the fire.
• Containing, controlling fire growth to the room of origin.
• Minor water, smoke damage was reported within the flat
• The premises emergency plan allowed Triangle Fire to be notified of the activation allowing the system to be recommissioned

The benefits sprinklers

For this reported fire, the benefits of installing a residential sprinkler system within a residential purpose-built block of flats. The outcome of which

• Restricted the fire’s growth, containing and controlling the fire to the room of origin.
• No injuries were reported.
• Preventing conflagration that could challenge FRS maintaining a business-as-usual routine service.

Sources/further reading

• Sprinkler Saves Review 2024/2025
• Sprinkler saves autumn update
• ¹Optimal economics report Efficiency and Effectiveness of sprinkler systems in the Uk: An analysis from fire service data
• Triangle Fire Systems Ltd, Sprinkler Save

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.