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A campaign to fit sprinklers in all new homes in Glasgow took place in June 2007 This followed a live burn demonstration by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue. Firefighters set fire to two rooms in identical derelict flats, one of which was fitted with a sprinkler system.
The fire in the room protected by two sprinkler heads was confined to a waste paper bin before being suppressed, while the other flat was gutted in minutes. The force of the blaze blew out the double glazed windows of the flat. Brian Sweeney, chief officer for Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, said: “If there was a family in the second room they would have died within minutes.”
The demonstration was filmed and will be released on DVD as part of part of a growing campaign to cut fires in the west of Scotland. Later this month it will be screened in the city centre as part of a high profile public meeting. The campaign is being run by Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Housing Association, sprinkler contractor Vipond, and is backed by the Glasgow Evening Times and the European Sprinkler Network.
Meanwhile, the European Sprinkler Network reports that the level of fire safety in the care home sector has been studied by the Board of Care Sector Construction on behalf of the Dutch Government. It found that in many buildings fire safety was inadequate and that this was often known by the authorities. Dutch codes require passive fire protection but a previous report by the Dutch TNO laboratory recommended sprinklers as a cost-effective alternative, in particular to make existing buildings safe. That recommendation is supported in this latest report, claims the European Sprinkler Network.
In a care homes, the report says, residents need help to escape from a fire and a fire can reach fatal conditions within five minutes. It assumes that a smoke detector will produce an alarm within one minute, but that several more minutes would be needed to evacuate those residents needing help. Many care homes, however, do not have sufficient staff on duty at night to guarantee this level of response, the reports says.
Sprinkler systems would be a more cost-effective solution, the report suggests, than hiring more staff. It also suggests that sprinklers may be more cost-effective than retrofitting passive fire protection, and recommends that the financial aspects of fitting sprinklers in care homes be studied further.
Across Scandinavia and in Scotland, sprinklers are fitted in new care homes, says the European Sprinkler Network. In Finland and Norway, sprinklers are also often retrofitted in existing
care homes.