European Sprinkler Campaigns Edinburgh, 20 January 2010 Alan Brinson
European Sprinkler Usage Sprinklers/thousand people/year Norway Sweden Netherlands Germany UK France Spain Italy 125 55 42 38 30 22 19 14
European Parliament
President Peter Skinner MEP
VP Cathy Stihler MEP
Our Aims Collection of EU fire statistics Numbers of deaths and injuries Type of building Where fire started Cause of fire Where deceased were when fire started Costs of Fire Hotels Campaign
Penhallow Hotel, Newquay UK, August 2007 3 Deaths!
European Hotels Campaign Secured support of outgoing Commissioner for Consumer Safety new Commissioner, John Dalli of Malta, takes office on 1st February Commission attempted to push the hotel industry into a self-regulatory approach rejected in November MEPs calling for a Directive as self-regulation failed Draft Directive prepared by EFSN Meanwhile EFSN working with hotel industry on self-regulatory approach
European Statistics Campaign HMG pushing other governments to collect data Commission engaged a consultancy Fire services in several countries lobbying for data to guide policy If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it Lord Kelvin (1824-1907)
National Developments outside UK
Sprinklers in High-Rise Buildings Building codes are recognising sprinklers, as in high-rises: Austria Czech Republic France Germany Hungary Ireland Luxembourg Netherlands Poland Portugal Spain UK >32m; >22m with less fire resistance >30m in hotels and residential >200m >22m commercial; >60m residential >3 storeys care homes; >13.65m hotels, hospitals shops; >31.65m offices >30m+phased evacuation hotels, offices >60m >70m >55m >28m >28m hotels; >80m all buildings; Barcelona >50m >30m+phased evacuation hotels, offices; >30 m residential; >18m residential Scotland Red text since 2004
Sprinklers in New Hotels UK?
Sprinklers in Dwellings Finland Government committed to use sprinklers as part of solution to reduce fire deaths by 70% Likely proposal will be to require retrofit in high-risk social housing and possibly in all new social housing Same as approach used for care homes
Sprinklers in Dwellings Netherlands Fire service has brought together all stakeholders Unlike in UK the water companies are supportive Matrix of permitted trade-offs & design COP published Several new housing developments may be fitted with sprinklers to save cost of new fire stations
Sprinklers in Dwellings Norway Population only 4 million but installs almost as many residential sprinklers as UK! 20% of all new homes in Norway are sprinklered, especially blocks of flats Legislative proposal to require sprinklers in all new houses and blocks of flats of more than two storeys
Sprinklers in Dwellings Sweden Sprinklers widely used, especially in wooden housing Government to require sprinklers in new care homes Nordic standards published for: Residential sprinkler system design Residential sprinklers Submitted to CEN Trade-off standard being developed
Sprinklers in High Rise Residential Buildings
Sprinklers in Warehouses Warehouses are getting larger and larger Warehouse fires grow to an unmanageable size by the time fire-fighters are ready to attack them If fire-fighters go into such buildings they are in great danger from building collapse But what if someone is trapped in the building? Fire in Sofa Super Store, Charleston USA on 18 June 2007 killed nine fire-fighters no sprinklers! Fire in vegetable warehouse in UK on 2 November 2007 killed four fire-fighters no sprinklers!
Legislation Across Europe for Sprinklers in Warehouses Austria: >1,800m2 Denmark: >5,000m2 or >2,000m2 + high fire load France: >3,000m2 Germany: >1,200m2 or >7.5m storage height Netherlands: usual solution when >1,000m2 Norway: >800m2 Portugal: >850 MJ/m2 Spain: >2,000m2 & >850 MJ/m2 Sweden: usual fire engineered solution Scotland: >14,000m2 (England >20,000m2)
Legislation Across Europe for Sprinklers in Shopping Centres Czech Republic: >1,000m2 Denmark: >2,000m2 France: >3,000m2 Germany: >3,000m2 Netherlands: usual solution when >1,000m2 Norway: >1,800m2 Portugal: >1,600m2 Spain: >1,500m2 Switzerland all centres Sweden: usual fire engineered solution Scotland all centres (England >2,000m2)
Other Legislative Developments Assembly Buildings in Germany if >3,600m2 Hospitals Many sprinklered in Sweden fire engineering New hospitals in Finland Some in Germany and Netherlands Prisons Netherlands all container prisons and many others New policy in Switzerland
Belgian Fire Sprinkler Network Melle, Belgium 5 August 2009 9 dead from a fire in a home for the elderly
French Fire Sprinkler Network Campaigning for sprinklers in care homes, hotels, university cities Involvement of French Burns Victims Association and of French Fire Service Planning a parallel burn demonstration Sprinkler training for French Fire Officers
21-22 April: Brussels 2010 International Fire Sprinkler Conference Leading international sprinkler experts Government officials Networking www.eurosprinkler.org for more details