Business Sprinkler Alliance News

The new edition of the biannual BAFSA member publication, Focus provides a round-up of work taking place in the sprinkler industry. John McCann, BAFSA Chairman welcomed members to the June 2021 edition of Focus magazine, the voice of the automatic water-based fire suppression industry. He reflected on the pressures faced by the construction industry resulting from pent-up demand from COVID-19, as well as the ensuing scarcity and rising costs of building materials.  He is delighted that mo...

The Business Sprinkler Alliance (BSA) is delighted to announce its sponsorship, participation and support for FIREX International Connect 2021, Europe’s renowned fire safety event, which is taking place virtually from June 1 - 30, 2021. FIREX International Connect 2021 Attracting a high profile of speakers from across the industry, FIREX International Connect 2021 connects the global fire and security markets, while providing fire and security professionals access to the very latest adva...

In early April 2021, when industrial fires broke out in two different locations, they both had the same devastating outcome. On April 10, a fire started in a furniture factory in County Antrim, in the United Kingdom, damaging the building. Two days later, a fire swept through a bed-making factory in Dewsbury, UK. Neither building contained a sprinkler system, nor businesses that are now counting the cost of the damage and dealing with the disruption to their livelihoods. Once again, they must q...

Rental storage units represent a serious and unpredictable risk for firefighters. For example, hundreds of rented units at a three-story, self-storage warehouse in Manchester, United Kingdom, were recently destroyed by fire. Fire in rental storage units There were 125 firefighters and 25 fire engines called to the scene. There were no injuries, but hundreds of customers lost thousands of dollars in stored goods in the fire. Notably, the facility was not protected by a sprinkler system, which n...

A fire that destroyed hundreds of rented units at a three-story self-storage warehouse in Manchester, United Kingdom, has once again brought into sharp focus the wider impact of fire and the vulnerability of buildings with no sprinkler systems. Self-Storage Tameside facility fire About 125 firefighters and 25 fire engines were called to battle the blaze at the Self-Storage Tameside facility, in Denton, on 21st February 2021. Thankfully, there were no injuries, but the wider impact to the hundr...

As part of a continuing campaign, the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association (BAFSA), Business Sprinkler Alliance, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and European Fire Sprinkler Network (EFSN) have been involved in to influence the Review of BB100 Sprinklers in Schools in England. Zurich Municipal analysis of data on over 26,800 schools in England shows the average fire risk in schools is almost double when compared to that of non-residential buildings. Schools in England are nearly...

A devastating fire raged through a warehouse in Lancashire, United Kingdom, requiring eight fire engines and an aerial platform to tackle the blaze, at its height. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed the fire, which took place on April 1, 2020, completely destroyed the warehouse, located at the Pincroft factory site. The facility is used to store fabrics for Chorley-based manufacturer, Carrington Textiles, which manufactures much-needed fabrics for NHS and healthcare workwear. Carring...

The government announced the publication of its response to the consultation it undertook on ADB, publishing at the same time an amendment to ADB that ‘extends the provision of sprinklers in blocks of high-rise residential buildings to those buildings with a top floor height of 11 meters above ground level’. This announcement also contained ‘new guidance on consistent wayfinding signage’ for fire and rescue service (FRS) personnel in such buildings. mixed-use and reside...

A new online CPD certified presentation that looks at the benefits of automatic fire sprinklers has been created by the BSA (Business Sprinkler Alliance). The CPD – ‘Property Protection & Business Resilience: Automatic Sprinklers – Background & Benefits’ – is a 25-minute-long video that providers viewers with an awareness of the beneficial impact that incorporating sprinklers can have and how they can add value to building design. It addresses how sprinkler...

A new online CPD certified presentation that looks at the benefits of automatic fire sprinklers has been created by the BSA (Business Sprinkler Alliance). The CPD, ‘Property Protection & Business Resilience: Automatic Sprinklers - Background & Benefits’, is a 25-minute long video that provides viewers with an awareness of the beneficial impact that incorporating sprinklers can have and how they can add value to building design. CPD highlights how sprinklers work The CPD ad...

Following a report by BBC’s Watchdog that highlights the hundreds of new build homes, which posed a fire risk, everybody is once again reminded of the dangerous gap between the expectation of safety, the reality of building regulations, and the performance of buildings. Lack of communication  People assume that the buildings are safe, but if a building is built to regulations, what does that mean? What do people hear? Is it that the building complies with the statutory minimums, so...

Of the 673 new schools that have been built and opened under the government’s flagship school program, only 105 were fitted with sprinklers. With hundreds of schools in the United Kingdom, witnessing a fire each year, this alarming statistic once again emphasizes that money spent on dealing with the aftermath of fires should be spent on sprinklers instead. The Business Sprinkler Alliance (BSA) shares the concerns of Labour Party MP and former teacher, Stephanie Peacock, who stated “...

The Business Sprinkler Alliance (BSA) has announced that it is a proud supporter of FIREX International 2019, Europe’s renowned fire safety event, which is taking place at the ExCel Centre, in London, United Kingdom, from June 18 to June 20, 2019. FIREX International 2019 Set to attract a high caliber of speakers from across the industry, the FIREX International event connects the global fire and security markets and gives fire and security professionals, access to the very latest advanc...

Three-and-a-half years on from a destructive fire, which engulfed a plastics manufacturer’s factory with no sprinkler system, in Lancashire, United Kingdom, the lasting effect is undeniable, as the £50 million turn-over business has gone into administration cost cuts, with the loss of 200 jobs. Total Polyfilm site fire The fire at the Total Polyfilm site, located in Bamber Bridge, on May 10, 2016, took 60 firefighters to control and resulted in the total loss of the factory. Nearby...