Retrofitted sprinkler system extinguishes fire in West Midlands residential tall building

Image credit Wolverhampton Homes living room seat of the fire

‘The safety of residents is our top priority. We are working with customers and partners such as West Midlands Fire Service, to ensure that residents are safe from fire at all times. Installing sprinklers in our tower blocks has proven to not only to save lives, but also minimises damage to the flat and protects firefighters in tackling what could have been a large blaze.’

Nick Lacey, Building Safety Manager at Wolverhampton Homes

Background

Wolverhampton Homes reported this fire and reiterated its commitment to installing sprinklers, enabling this positive news story to reach a broader audience. By clearly demonstrating the advantages of sprinkler systems in residential fires, this outcome will entice other stakeholders and housing providers to follow is lead and install sprinklers, thereby enhancing fire protection for our communities.

Following the tragic fire at Grenfell tower, the City of Wolverhampton Council took the decision as part of their high-rise infrastructure programme to include the retrofitting of sprinklers in all 36 high-rise tower blocks, with all but one managed by Wolverhampton Homes. They were built between 1960 and 1973 to provide large numbers of social housing on tight footprints.

In the autumn of 2025, West Midlands Fire Rescue Service (WMFRS) responded to a fire in a high-rise purpose-built block of flats. The buildings sprinkler system activated, thereby containing, controlling and extinguishing a small living room fire. No injuries were reported.

Demonstrating the effectiveness of sprinklers in controlling fires at an early stage, significantly reducing the risk to life, limiting fire spread and minimising property damage, preventing the fire from spreading further preventing flash over allowing a positive outcome.

If it was not for the decision by the City of Wolverhampton Council to retrofit sprinklers in their high-rise property portfolio, the outcome of this incident could have been so different.

A sprinkler activation 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.

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.

The Incident

A fire that started in the living room of a one-bedroom unit within a 16-story residential purpose-built block of flats was caused by discarded smoking materials. The blaze was effectively contained, controlled, and extinguished in its original location by the activation of a single sidewall sprinkler head before WMFRS arrived. However, because the internal doors were left open, smoke spread throughout the flat.

The images identify that the resident maintained poor housekeeping, with significant disorganisation and clutter throughout the living space with smoking paraphernalia on display. The NFCC report smoking is one of the top causes of accidental dwelling fires in the Uk. Nationally, it remains the top cause of accidental fire deaths. In the event of a fire, these conditions could have accelerated its spread, compromising the means of escape from the flat to a place of safety.

Fortunately, in this instance, the sprinkler system was present, activated controlling the fire’s development and significantly reducing heat and smoke production. This allowed the resident more time to self-evacuate from the dwelling to a place of safety.

Image credit Wolverhampton Homes living room seat of the fire

Specification of the sprinkler system

• Installed to comply with BS 9251:2014 Fire Sprinkler Systems for Domestic and Residential Occupancies – Code of Practice.
• Category 3:

Conclusion

This incident provides further supporting evidence of the benefits of sprinklers to under pin the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association’s (BAFSA) advocacy, turning operational evidence into persuasive tools for policy and parliamentary engagement, and reinforcing the case for the retrofitting of sprinklers systems in high-rise residential blocks of flats.

We welcomed the government’s November 2020 decision to lower the height threshold for mandatory sprinklers in purpose group 1a (residential blocks of flats) from 30 metres to 11 metres. Nevertheless, concerns persist regarding the lack of requirements to retrofit existing residential buildings with sprinklers.

In alignment with the ²NFCC sprinkler position statement, The BAFSA advocate for government action to mandate the retrofitting of sprinklers in high-rise residential buildings. Retrofitting should apply to all existing residential buildings over 18 metres in height, or those with at least seven storeys served by a single staircase, as well as all existing residential buildings exceeding 11 metres, based on risk assessments.

The outcome of this fire could have been so different if building had not been fitted with a sprinkler system.

Sources/further reading

• Sprinkler saves review 2024/2025
• Sprinkler Saves winter review
• NFSN Newsletter
• ¹Efficiency and Effectiveness of sprinkler systems in the United Kingdom:An Analysis from Fire Service Data
• ²NFCC AWSS Policy Statement

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.