Sprinklers extinguish fire in Southampton scissor design residential block

Incident Commander Mark Caplen said

“The sprinklers in the flats operated exactly as intended, containing the fire to a single room and preventing it from becoming a far more serious incident. The occupier was already safely outside when we arrived, while other residents followed the building’s ‘stay put’ policy and guidance from our Control team. The building performed exactly as designed during the fire. This incident highlights the importance of having robust fire safety measures in place.”

Summary

On 12 August 2025, the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service (HIWFRS) responded to a fire incident in a Southampton purpose-built ¹scissor block residential flat. The retrofitted residential sprinkler system was activated, effectively containing, controlling, and extinguishing a fire involving textiles that had been accidentally left on a cooking hob. There were no reported injuries.

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 ²Optimal 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.

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.

Southampton City Council demonstrated its commitment to fire safety by agreeing, in June 2017, to fund the retrofitting of residential sprinklers within its twenty high-rise buildings as part of a phased programme, in response to the Grenfell Tower fire. This initiative was undertaken in close collaboration with HIWFRS.

Priority will be given first to the blocks known as scissor blocks, followed by the tallest blocks featuring single staircases, with the remainder prioritised according to height. Such a commitment is essential; without it, the outcomes of similar incidents could be significantly different.

BAFSA 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 ⁴National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) sprinkler position statement, The British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association 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.

¹ scissor block residential flats, consist of interlocking designs consisting of up flats and down flats. served at alternate floors by a common corridor, which are difficult to understand when performing firefighting duties.

The incident

• Fire crews responded to a reported fire in a residential tall building.
• Following the completion of a dynamic risk assessment by the incident commander, (IC)
• It was established that the premises sprinkler system had operated on the 3^rd floor of the 15-storey building within a flat.
• The activation of the sprinkler system allowed extra time for the IC to implement a robust high rise tactical plan for the incident.
• Firefighting crews wearing breathing apparatus were committed, establishing that the fire within the kitchen had been contained, controlled and extinguished by the activation of 1 sprinkler head.
• Firefighting media was applied for turning over and dampening down remaining hot spots.
• Fire damage was sustained to the item first ignited on the cooking hob with smoke damage reported throughout the flat.
• The resident self-evacuated the dwelling prior to the arrival of HIWFRS with no injuries reported, two cats were rescued.
• Cause of the fire,  textiles accidentally left on a cooking hob.
• The common ways were not compromised by fire, smoke.
• Preplanning using up to date risk information (72d) gathered by operational crews allowed the  sprinkler system to be isolated, following confirmation the fire had been extinguished.

Conclusion

This incident underscores the benefits of installing residential sprinkler systems in high-rise tall buildings. In this instance, the systems

• Provided support to firefighters operating within a complex building featuring a scissor block design by effectively containing fire spread, extinguishing the fire playing a key role in mitigating risks for firefighting personnel.
• Provided valuable time for the occupier to self-evacuate from the dwelling to a place of safety
• Prevented conflagration
• Identified the importance of active fire protection systems minimising fire-related risks.

Furthermore, this incident illustrates that AWSS are integral to a thorough fire safety strategy, protecting lives, property, and the environment. It also strengthens ongoing advocacy efforts by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and stakeholders within the fire sector for more rigorous government regulations regarding the retrofitting of sprinklers in existing buildings.

Sources/further reading

• Sprinkler Saves Review 2024/2025
• Sprinkler Saves Summer Update No 8
• ² Optimal economics report Efficiency and Effectiveness of sprinkler systems in the Uk: An analysis from fire service data.
• ³Southampton city council, overview and scrutiny management committee 9 November 2017
• ⁴National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) sprinkler position statement
• Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service incident of interest

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.