A personal protection system installed by Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS), in partnership with a local housing provider, prevented a significant house fire in the county in May 2020.
The misting unit is designed to suppress a fire to prevent it from spreading throughout a property, similar in principle to a sprinkler system.
personal protective system
The personal protective system (PPS) is a self-contained portable unit and works differently, as they also help keep property damage to a minimum while suppressing the fire.
Not only does the misting system acts to suppress a detected fire, but the Service’s Combined Fire Control is alerted allowing crews to be sent immediately.
Fire incident
The smoke from the bin activated the PPS, notifying Control, and began to release a fine mist covering the room
A unit installed at a home in Huntingdonshire activated when a fire started in a plastic bin from a discarded cigarette. The smoke from the bin activated the PPS, notifying Control, and immediately began to release a fine mist of water covering the room, and extinguished the fire before it could spread to the chair the resident was sitting in.
When the crews attended, they rescued the resident who was treated for smoke inhalation as a precaution by the Ambulance Service. There was minimal damage to the property, allowing the housing provider to quickly return the property to a habitable standard.
Fire suppression system
Head of Fire Prevention for CFRS, Group Commander Paul Clarke, said, “This incident highlights just how effective the personal protective systems are. This PPS system ensured that the fire was not only suppressed but actually extinguished and undoubtedly saved the life of the individual that day."
He adds, “We have been installing PPS systems in the homes of vulnerable residents for two years now and 17 have been fitted in Cambridgeshire, with even more planned. During this time we’ve been working with local authorities and housing providers to identify those most vulnerable residents in our communities and to assess their homes to ensure they are as safe from fire as they can be."
Misting system installation
Misting systems help ensure vulnerable residents are protected if a fire starts on their property
“Once installed, we return every six months to service the systems and carry out welfare checks on the residents. Some residents will present a higher risk, for example, those in need of in-home oxygen therapy or are confined to a bed. Working with our partner agencies we hope to install misting systems in properties where the most vulnerable people are living."
“These systems not only help ensure vulnerable residents are protected if a fire starts in their property, but they also help ensure crews are not faced with a fully developed fire, which could spread to other properties, potentially putting more lives at risk.”
Fire prevention
Group Commander Clarke added, “We are committed to doing all that we can to ensure those vulnerable residents most at risk from a fire in the home across the county are protected from fire."
"Installing these systems is part of the wide-ranging activity our staff continues to complete regardless of the current lockdown conditions, with two more premises identified for installations in the near future. All these measures support our service aims to ensure there are no preventable fire deaths in Cambridgeshire.”
