5 minute read
The good news
Fire systems are meant to contain fire and allow occupants to evacuate. And often, they do. However, as industry expert John Clampett points out, we need to safeguard against complacency, and part of this is collecting data about fire protection successes.
JOHN CLAMPETT
John Clampett Consulting
When I was in the fire brigade, a senior officer once remarked to me that the biggest problem we have with fire protection is that we do not keep records of the systems when they work, which is a high proportion of the time. The fire is extinguished, the damage gets cleaned up, and the systems are reset.
I experienced this personally when I was involved in the facilities management of a very large complex. When a fire occurred, we simply refilled the extinguishers, reset the detection system, or recommissioned the sprinkler systems and so on. While we did keep a record of how effective the extinguishing system was, there was no database to record these success stories. That may have changed, but I am not aware of it.
Similarly, fire services around the world report on the fires they attend, but often that data is too high-level to provide the statistical information that might expound upon the mitigation impact of, proven effectiveness and reliability of, and lives and property saved by the fire protection systems.
The building and infrastructure industries often argue that the cost of fire protection is prohibitive and should be decreased, particularly when regulations and standards are being overhauled. This is a position put forward in the absence of data and is exactly the reason why an effort should be made for this evidence to be made available, for consideration in cost–benefit analysis.
However, there is a statistic that does (to a certain degree) reflect the impact of improved fire protection brought about by regulatory change. In many parts of the world, the number of fires, lives lost, and injuries, as well as the amount of damage caused have been decreasing over the years, due not only to fire protection systems, but also to better fire prevention education, firefighting operations, and improvements in furnishing and building materials.
There is evidence available now that, with modern furniture materials, a room will flashover in frighteningly less time than it did 30 years ago, when more traditional furnishing materials such as wool, timber, horsehair and so on were used. A fire that would take a normal sitting room 30 minutes to get out of control in the past can now flashover in three to five minutes.
We may not have the poor construction methods or ignorance of fire cause and behaviour as we had in the past, but we definitely have higher fire loads and combustible materials than previously, thanks to the increased use of synthetic materials.
So, this is not a time for complacency for the fire protection industry! It is critically important to undertake and encourage innovation to improve the effectiveness and reliability of fire protection systems and to address new threats. Equally important is developing new and affordable, yet still effective and reliable, fire protection systems. This will enable fire protection to be extended to environments that do not have it as yet—such as domestic homes—and negate the argument that it is too costly to include in regulation.
It is pleasing to note that development and innovation has not stalled, and there are numerous examples of it thriving. At the recent AFAC, FPA Australia, National Fire Protection Association, and Munich trade shows, I was astounded at the technical innovation and system development on show.
Another area that complacency must not encroach upon is in the maintenance and installation of fire
John Clampett discussed the benefits of fire safety at a recent forum on the Lacross Building fire, as part of National Fire Protection Month.
protection equipment. The importance of this has been highlighted by the fact that many jurisdictions are now providing more focus and more regulation to ensure that installation and maintenance is being undertaken properly. There have been too many instances of fires—many tragic—where fire protection was lacking, poorly installed, and poorly maintained. The installation and maintenance of any fire safety system (in fact, any safety system) must be undertaken with a sense of zealotry that ensures that these systems will perform when needed. Lives depend upon it!
Any complacency may be a reflection that the probability of a fire occurring is far less now than it has been in the past. So, are we victims of our own success?
Fire regulations and codes nearly always have redundancy factors built in. For example, a building or an infrastructure will have active systems, passive systems, egress provisions, and firefighting provisions. If one system should fail, another is in place to mitigate the impact of the fire on the structure and the occupants.
But it is important to note that this redundancy is not only in place in case a fire protection system fails, but also due to the innumerable different possible fire scenarios and the unpredictable nature of fire, which means that one fire protection system cannot deal with all the possible variations.
We also need not to be complacent in relation to regulatory reform. With the reduced numbers of fires, damage, injuries, and fatalities, arguments are made to reduce the fire protection now provided in the regulations for buildings and infrastructure. But it is those fire protection systems that have significantly contributed to that reduction.
Hence, we need to collect the data and case studies and to record those good news stories!
This feature originally appeared in Issue 83 of Asia Pacific Fire magazine and is reproduced with the kind permission of MDM Publishing Ltd. www.apfmag.com.
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The 2017 Grenfell Tower fire showed the risks of inappropriate building materials and poorly maintained fire protection.
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