Glen Thomas from Merseyside F&RS reports that at about 13:50 on Bank Holiday Monday, 6th May 2013, there was a successful sprinkler activation at St Chad’s Parade Shopping Centre in Liverpool. The fire started due to the deliberate ignition of furniture that had been delivered to external delivery/unloading area at the rear of the premises. One head on the OH3 system operated in the internal shared access delivery storage area. There was no fire spread into the storage area or other parts of the centre. The sprinkler system was off line until the following day but there was no disruption to trading.

Mark O’Meara from Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service reports that sprinklers saved Arrow Mill in Rochdale. Fire-fighters were called at 10:25 on Friday, 3rd May to a fire in a five-storey mill, measuring 100 m x 50 m. The fire started when a fluorescent light fitting burst into flames and dropped onto 10 pallets of paint. The sprinkler system activated to contain the fire, so that fire-fighters could approach it and complete extinguishment. The 200 workers in the building evacuated safely and damage was confined to the light fitting and pallets. The chairman of Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service, Councillor David Acton, said, “This is a clear example of how effective sprinklers are in rapidly suppressing fires and saving lives. They are not just for use in commercial buildings and their use in domestic properties can be equally effective. GMFRS is leading by example – our newest fire station at Bury is installed with sprinklers, as will our new community fire station at Rochdale which is currently being built.”

Triangle Fire reports that a recently-installed sprinkler system in a four-storey house, converted from a period mill, in Islington, London, successfully activated on 26 April 2013 when a fire occurred in a TV room. The fire involved a tray of acetone containing rags which was being used during building work. Due to the heat of the fire a single sprinkler head immediately operated and extinguished the fire. Water from the operating head was caught in a bucket until the system stop valve was closed. There was no fire or water damage to the property and the fire brigade was not called. The BS 9251 system was commissioned only the previous week and consists of 22 heads, a pump and 2 x 500 litre tanks.

Glen Thomas from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service reports that at 15:09 on Friday 19th April 2013 a call was received to a fire at Kirby School Sports Centre. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funded school was occupied by 1500 persons at the time of the fire, which occurred when paper was deliberately ignited in one of the toilet areas. Two fire appliances with eight personnel responded. Meanwhile the building was evacuated an orderly manner. On arrival fire-fighters found that one sprinkler head had activated and staff had completed extinguishment using CO2 fire extinguishers. The school has an OH1 sprinkler system with a water tank. It was estimated that the fire was controlled in less than five minutes with less than 5% damage to the room of origin. The school was back in full use the following day.

Four West Midlands Fire Service crews were called to the Plaza Mall shopping and leisure complex in Dudley at just after 21:00 on Thursday 4th April. Automatic Fire Alarms and sprinklers were going off when crews arrived. The fire occurred in a store room on the first floor of the three storey and lower ground  premises, situated in the centre of Dudley. The cause of the fire is believed to be electrical, and the fire was confined to the room in question, although there was smoke logging to other parts of the building.

There was a minor fire in the early hours of Monday 11th March 2013 at the premises of a textile manufacturer in  Ashton-Under-Lyme, near Manchester. The incident occurred in a radio frequency drier which overheated and caught fire. One sprinkler head directly over the drier activated confining the fire to the machine. This ensured that no damage was caused to the building and that production was able to continue as normal. The fire brigade attended and closed the stop valves having assessed the situation. The sprinkler head was replaced and the system recharged, becoming operational again within four hours of the fire.