Following a blaze at Woodborough School in Wiltshire back in September this year, senior fire offices concluded that the extensive damage sustained to the building could have been avoided had it been equipped with fire sprinklers.
The Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service found that the fire, which broke out on September 17, started accidentally in the school roof which had been undergoing building works. In order to tackle the significant blaze, crews from Pewsey, Devizes, Marlborough, Calne, Trowbridge, Salisbury, Royal Wootton Bassett, Westbury, Andover, Chippenham, Westbury, Mere, Swindon, Stratton and Tisbury all had to attend the scene.
After the fire had been doused, chief fire officer Ben Ansell said that had the school building been equipped with sprinklers, the spread of the blaze could have been reduced and the damage significantly limited compared to what was found when the fire service arrived.
Ansell told The Salisbury Journal: “This was a large and complex incident, with firefighters working tirelessly to contain the fire, and protect and save as much of the school as possible.
“Whenever there is a school fire, there is debate around whether the building should have had fire sprinklers, in no small part due to the devastation such incidents cause and the effects on the children, staff and the wider community.
“While sprinklers might not have prevented this fire from taking hold in the roof, they would have reduced the speed at which it spread and limited the damage caused before my firefighters arrived on scene.
“As a service, we will continue to promote the installation of sprinklers in new and refurbished school buildings, and I know our fire safety team will be working with the management of Woodborough School to explore all available options for keeping the site safe from fire in the future.
“Our education team is already in contact with the school to see how we can help the children come to terms with what has happened, and I know that local firefighters are also offering whatever help they can give to the recovery process.”
Earlier this year, the National Fire Chiefs Council [NFCC] called for automatic water suppression systems to be made mandatory in all school buildings in response to a government consultation on fire safety in schools.
The NFCC said: “We believe that school and educational buildings are vital community assets, and their design should include fire safety measures which aim to minimise the effects of fires that may occur within them.
“NFCC have called for automatic water suppression systems to be mandatory in all new and refurbished school buildings.
“We acknowledge that deaths and injuries in school fire are rare, and whilst sprinklers would provide additional life safety benefits, the greatest gains to be made are in protecting the property which will in turn secure the continued education of the children.
“In the event of a fire, sprinklers should ensure minimum disruption and allow use of the premises to return to normal as quickly as possible.”
This message has been echoed by industry body the Business Sprinkler Alliance, and Domestic Sprinklers Ltd, a firm specialising in the design, installation, and servicing of domestic, residential and commercial fire sprinkler systems.
Responding to news of the Woodborough School fire, both said in a statement: “The fire was reported to have started accidentally in the school roof, which had been undergoing building works. As another glaring example of inadequate fire safety laws in protecting schools in England, we fully support chief fire officer Ben Ansell in highlighting how fire sprinklers would've prevented such major damage to the building.”
Statistics from 2014 indicate that there were 61,300 building fires from that year, resulting in more than 322 deaths and 18,200 injuries.
Colin Taylor, global operating officer at Domestic Sprinklers, commented: “We need to seriously think about what we can do to improve the situation. We certainly cannot expect the fire to respond any quicker. In fact, with modern traffic causing so much congestion response times are likely to get worse.
“We have to turn from passive fire protection to active fire protection by installing sprinkler systems in buildings.”
During the festive season, it is important that we think about fire safety at home or wherever we are. Some helpful tips for how to stay safe from fire this Christmas can be found here.
Photo by Jay Heike on Unsplash
