The Coroner of an inquest into the Shirley Towers fire in April 2010 where two firefighters lost their lives has recommended that tower blocks that are taller than 30 metres should have sprinklers retrofitted.
The Coroner’s report has been released, six months after the inquest concluded death by misadventure of firefighters Alan Bannon and James Shears.
In a statement released last week Coroner Keith Wiseman said:
- Social housing providers should be encouraged to consider the retro-fitting of sprinklers in all existing high-rise buildings in excess of 30m in height, particularly those identified by fire and rescue services as having complex designs that make fire-fighting more hazardous and/or difficult.
He also recommended that firefighters be given wire cutters, after the inquest found that cables hanging from the ceiling got caught on firefighters’ breathing apparatus tanks on their backs — creating a deadly trap. He also recommended that building regulations be amended to ensure that all cables are supported by fire-resistant cable supports.
The Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) issued a statement yesterday welcoming the Coroner’s recommendations. They wrote that sprinklers are “the most effective way” of suppressing or extinguishing fires before the fire and rescue service arrive and that “they save lives and reduce injuries”.
Sprinklers have been proven time and again to work, and a range of reports into the use of sprinklers in residential homes have concluded that they are both cost effective and save lives.
Last year the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association released a report into retrofitting high-rise apartment blocks and concluded that the cost per flat was around GB pound 1,150 (US$1,780).
Clearly, the use of sprinklers in high-rise, and other, homes would make a significant difference to the jobs that fire fighters are required to do — especially in a time of dwindling fire service budgets.
If the Government were to adopt the proposals and recommend social housing blocks over 30m are fitted with sprinklers, it would provide a significant boost to the fire safety industry, with hundreds, if not thousands, of buildings requiring retrospective works.
The CFOA went further in its statement, recommending that “all new build accommodation, irrespective of height as well as… accommodation housing vulnerable people” should also have sprinklers installed.
These findings come as the spectre of the Lakanal House inquest hangs over the UK fire authorities and councils. Six people died in the 2009 fire, and the harrowing testimony detailing some of the victims’ dying moments has shocked many.
Sprinklers can save lives, but will government be willing to commit councils to invest in potentially expensive systems in these austere times? Maybe the real question should be: What will the cost be if they don’t?
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