SPRINKLERS
AUSTRALIA’S FIRST FIREFIGHTER SPRINKLER TRAINING FACILITY FOR STANDALONE HOUSING GOES LIVE Industry and fire services have developed a facility to show firefighters and practitioners the efficacy and importance of residential sprinklers. PHOTO: 123RF
PAUL WATERHOUSE FPA Australia
Following the 2012 Bankstown apartment fire, the introduction of Technical Specifications FPAA101D and FPAA101H into the National Construction Code (NCC) created new rules and incentives for sprinklers to be installed in residential buildings. The NCC requires these features in Class 2 and Class 3 shared residential buildings above four storeys and under 25 metres, leaving it optional for other types of residential premises. However, a lack of awareness about residential sprinklers, how they operate under the new NCC provisions, and why these changes are important, is acting as a disincentive for their installation, particularly for the FPAA101D model. This model, which draws its water supply from drinking water and is connected to the water used to flush the building’s toilets, is the most cost-effective option for sprinklers in a home. To increase operational familiarity with the new sprinkler specifications, the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Australia (HFSCA) proposed a fire brigade training centre in each jurisdiction install and use a FPAA101D 20
FIRE AUSTRALIA
ISSUE ONE 2022
sprinkler system for the purposes of firefighter, industry and community education and training.
The Technical Specifications
FPAA101D and FPAA101H were developed following the coroner’s inquiry into the 2012 Bankstown fire. That inquiry recommended cost-effective sprinkler systems be created to allow for the installation of fire suppression more affordably in shared residential buildings, and that these should be incorporated into the NCC as a deemed-to-satisfy requirement. The Specifications were developed by Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW), CSIRO, AFAC and FPA Australia, following extensive testing on a purpose-built test rig that reflected the layout of the Bankstown unit where the fire broke out. These tests showed that flashover in an unsprinklered room will occur within three minutes and 40 seconds, at which time the compartment is fully involved in fire and conditions are untenable for human life. In contrast, the sprinklered room kept the fire under control for more than 14 minutes, giving the brigade plenty of time to attend the site and extinguish the flames.
Clearly, the presence of a fire suppression system is an important factor for the safety of its residents and responding firefighters, and for the protection of the property.
A goal to go further
HFSCA is a partnership between AFAC and FPA Australia that seeks to be the leading national resource for independent, non-commercial information about home fire sprinklers. Its work on the Technical Specifications was supported by funding from the International Fire Suppression Alliance, and HFSCA has firmly set itself a goal to make sprinklered residential buildings and homes the rule rather than the exception.
The need for a demonstration
With training on home sprinkler systems part of HFSCA’s strategy, the Coalition approached FRNSW to identify whether a demonstration system could be installed within the Class 1a standalone residential training prop to prove its effectiveness. FRNSW agreed with this request and a FPAA101D system was installed in a standalone house at its Emergency Services Academy in Orchard Hills, NSW. This is an Australian first and
