Fire chiefs say hundreds of high-risk homes will be safer for decades to come due to more than £1 million spent on fire sprinkler projects in the last five years.
South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue spent the money fitting fire sprinklers in around 650 flats across the county in a bid to prompt owners of accommodation for mostly vulnerable residents to consider fire sprinklers as a long-term measure to keep their tenants safe.
funding beneficiary
More than 20 separate projects were awarded funding, with most of the money allocated match-funded by the building owners themselves. An early beneficiary of the funding was the St Wilfrid’s Centre in Sheffield. Fire Sprinklers were installed in a new, 20-bed residential project which houses adults with complex needs.
High-profile projects in Rotherham include a scheme to protect children with severe disabilities at a South Yorkshire Housing Association. The scheme was awarded £28,000 to retrofit fire sprinklers in a 15-flat facility on John Street in the town.
retrofitting of automatic fire sprinklers
Money was also spent to retrofit fire sprinklers at a high-rise block of flats in Doncaster
Funding for social housing developments in Barnsley means more than 100 Barnsley Council-owned properties are protected. Churchfields Sheltered Housing, part of Berneslai Homes, was awarded funding for the retrofitting of automatic fire sprinklers in flats that mostly house older people.
Money was also spent to retrofit fire sprinklers at a high-rise block of flats in Doncaster- a decade after a similar scheme at Callow Mount in Sheffield highlighted the ease with which older tower blocks can be fitted with the potentially life-saving devices.
Funding criteria
Assistant Chief Fire Officer - Steve Helps, said, “Fire Sprinkler systems can have a life span of well over 50 years, meaning this money will help to keep thousands of people safe in these buildings for decades to come. Importantly, we’ve targeted our funding at properties where people are at a greater risk of fire for a range of factors including age, disability, mental health or substance misuse issues."
New fire regulation review
Steve Helps adds, "Some of the schemes we’re most proud to have supported, are actually amongst the smallest, with relatively small amounts of money helping to protect small numbers of very vulnerable people in premises owned by charities and other organizations which wouldn’t ordinarily be able to afford to pay for projects of this nature on their own.”
Fire sprinklers in residential buildings remain topical with the second phase of the Grenfell Tower inquiry underway and a review of building fire safety regulations ongoing.
Fire Sprinklers
Fire Sprinklers are a cost-effective way of making businesses and residential dwellings safer"
The Government announced it was considering lowering the threshold from 30 meters to 11 meters tall for fire sprinklers to be installed in newly built high-rise buildings.
Steve Helps continues, “Fire Sprinklers are a cost-effective way of making businesses and residential dwellings safer, they stop fires from spreading, put them out quickly, save lives, and have a long working life span."
benefits of fire sprinklers
Steve Helps further stated, "We’re proud of the reputation we’ve built nationally as a fire and rescue service for our long-standing advocacy of the benefits of fire sprinklers. The projects we’ve funded are just another example of our work in this area.”
Money for all of the funded projects came from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority’s Stronger Safer Communities Reserve, which used money set aside from the Authority’s reserves.