SPRINKLER DEMO FILM – SCRIPT
INTRO (CFO):
Every year hundreds of people die in fires and many more suffer injuries. This can be prevented
by fitting sprinkler systems. There is clear evidence that sprinklers can be effective in stopping
fires spreading and putting them out. Sprinkler systems are proven to save lives and property;
they improve fire-fighter safety, minimise environmental damage and reduce economic loss. In
support of these aims Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service proactively endorses the installation of
sprinkler systems in domestic, educational, industrial, commercial and residential premises.
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has conducted live fire demonstrations to highlight the benefits
of sprinklers in order to convince people of their effectiveness and to support the campaign for
new legislation to fit sprinkler systems into all new-build properties. Two rooms were set up
identically as bedrooms and burned, with the only difference being the fitting of a sprinkler to one
of them. The results seen in this bedroom setting can be applied to any room setting, be it
domestic or commercial.
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FIRE 1 (RG) (don’t record this sub-header!)
First we will see a fire in a bedroom without a sprinkler system installed. The room was equipped
with the usual items found in a bedroom such as bedside tables, an occasional chair, television
and drawers as well as clothes, books and other small items.
The fire starts on the bed and is allowed to grow naturally and as it does so, smoke is being
produced. The smoke layer will rapidly descend in the room and spread throughout the building
on fire, particularly where there are poor quality or open doors.
The conditions within the room on fire deteriorate rapidly as the temperature builds up and more
and more items become involved in fire. Radiated heat spreads fire very quickly and hot smoke
and gases can travel to other parts of the building, spreading fire to remote parts.
It is important to consider the location of other occupants in a building:

Do they even know at this point that there is a fire?

Is there a working smoke alarm and has it gone off? It may be too late for the room
occupant if there’s no smoke detector in the room on fire.
How long will it take for the fire service to arrive and intervene? To start with, a call has to be
made to alert them to the fire. This period could be quite long, depending on time of day and also
depending on the location - it could be 5 minutes or it could be 20 minutes before a fire engine
arrives. Would you like to be in that room or building after 20 minutes?
Fires keep growing until what’s known as flashover is reached. Flashover is when the entire room
reaches a critical temperature and everything suddenly ignites and becomes involved in the fire
and the whole room is ablaze. This fire was extinguished prior to flashover but, from these
pictures, you’ll appreciate just how devastating this would be.
Temperatures in a room which has reached flashover can reach 1000 degrees, and are normally
in excess of 600 degrees.
The speed of fire development and temperature is dependent on the contents of the room and the
items which ignite first.
For those caught in the room of the fire, chances of survival decrease with every passing second,
and for those in other parts of the building, well they’re in the hands of fate. Smoke contains all
manner of nasty toxic chemicals from the burning materials and in particular carbon monoxide and
hydrogen cyanide are produced of which very low concentrations are required to cause
incapacitation.
The fire is now being extinguished after burning for just 5 minutes and the recorded temperature
was over 600 degrees Celsius.
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FIRE 2 (RG) (don’t record this sub-header!)
To compare the effect of a sprinkler on a fire a virtually identical bedroom was set alight with a
sprinkler system installed. The room was set up exactly like the one without a sprinkler system,
the only difference being that we fitted one concealed sprinkler head in the ceiling. Again the
room was equipped with the usual bedroom items - bedside tables, occasional chair, television
and drawers as well as clothes, books and other small items.
This sprinkler system operates in two stages. As the heat at ceiling level reaches 57 degrees
Celsius the decorative cover plate falls off and the sprinkler head descends. Further heating up to
68 degrees then activates a metal fuse element which releases the water.
Again, the fire can be seen to grow and smoke is being produced. This smoke at ceiling level
starts to spread out and travel across the ceiling and over the sprinkler position, heating up the
cover plate as it does so.
The development stage of the fire is proceeding as it did in the previous scenario, but the
difference we should see is the effect of the sprinkler to prevent it continuing to the fully developed
and flashover stages.
The sprinkler has just operated and you can see the room conditions at that point of operation.
The sprinkler will now control, suppress and, as in most cases, fully extinguish the fire. In total that
was ……minutes and ……..seconds from ignition and the ceiling temperature was only around 70
degrees.
This second demonstration shows a significant difference to the previous fire and would give the
occupants of both the room and building a significantly higher chance of survival. An activated
sprinkler system also reduces repair costs, environmental damage and reduces the need to
relocate businesses or residents as well as vastly improving business continuity.
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ADVOCATING:
As it stands, you will tend to see the majority of sprinkler systems in larger buildings such as
shopping centres, supermarkets and some new schools. But what about buildings where people
sleep and live? We would like to see sprinklers included in all new build homes throughout the UK
as a matter of course, either through legislation or through a government backed incentive
scheme. In Scotland there is already a requirement within Building Standards for all new build
residential care buildings to have Sprinkler systems installed and we strongly advocate that this
should be the case in England.
In Wales there is now a requirement for all new domestic
premises to be fitted with automatic fire suppression systems. [
Ann Jones slot ]
Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service will support the call for similar legislative change in England.
Locally, we work closely with the local building control and planning authorities in order to
influence building, planning, design and development at every stage so that the benefits of
Sprinklers can be considered before the design and costing decisions are so far advanced that it is
too late to include Sprinklers.
Fires in the home still account for the greatest number of fire deaths and injuries each year
,therefore the installation of Sprinklers in domestic premises would have a significant impact in
reducing these. While it would be ideal for all domestic premises to have sprinkler systems
installed, we realise that this is neither practical nor realistic in all existing buildings. We therefore
advocate that in those domestic premises where our most vulnerable residents live, Sprinklers
should be fitted, in addition to smoke alarms, as this would further reduce the risks. To achieve
this, we will work in partnership with developers, local authorities and social housing landlords to
encourage the installation of Sprinklers in the homes of the most vulnerable people either by retrofitting them where possible, or as part of the construction of new builds.
EXTRA BIT TO USE WITH EMOTIVE IMAGES [ mid presentation ]
[
Underwood Court slot – waiting for them to confirm ]
There is also a compelling case to be made for sprinklers to be fitted in any commercial premises.
In commercial environments, business could get back to normal in a relatively short space of time.
It is a well-known fact that many businesses that suffer from significant fires and fire damage
never return to operation.
Sprinklers can safeguard against that and significantly improve
business continuity. Businesses can improve their compliance with legislation by fitting sprinklers
which can give design freedoms and aid the completion of a sufficient fire risk assessment,
particularly in premises where people sleep.
In addition, although firefighters are well trained and equipped with the latest in hi tech fire kit for
protection and breathing apparatus, they can be exposed to serious temperatures and scenarios
in unfamiliar and uncontrolled surroundings.
This, as you will appreciate, exposes them to
significant dangers. Sprinklers can therefore help to reduce the risks not just to the occupants but
to firefighters as well.
OUTRO (CFO): Fire is indiscriminate - it destroys lives, homes, families, businesses and history
that cannot be replaced. Every year people are needlessly killed and seriously injured in fires.
Every year people are made homeless as a result of fire. Every year businesses collapse and
people lose their livelihoods as a result of fire. Lives and properties can be saved with this simplest
of additions.
[ Cut to Think Sprinkler logo and Can you afford not to? ]
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