History lesson

FIRE SAFETY legislation for England and Wales in the shape of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is purpose-designed to safeguard lives, but doesn’t contain any provision for building protection. If there should be a significant fire then it’s often the case that modern day structures can be re-built. The same cannot be said of heritage premises, though. Once the historic fabric of such buildings is destroyed, it’s gone for all time.

Historic buildings were fashioned in a different era when other rules/guidelines were in play and with little (if any) attention paid to fire safety. It’s very often the case that the materials from which they’re fabricated are readily combustible. Indeed, they usually incorporate features which can actively assist the rapid development and spread of fire. 

Further, in today’s world those premises are used and occupied in ways dissimilar to what was the case in relation to their original purpose and design, with modern installations and equipment now fitted in most instances. Without the right level of protection in place, this leaves such buildings – and visitors to them – somewhat vulnerable to the risk of fire.

Although there are no official statistics to highlight precisely how many heritage buildings are damaged or lost to fire each year, estimates have been forthcoming from the likes of the Fire Protection Association, English Heritage and The National Trust. Unfortunately, those estimates don’t make for very comfortable reading at all.

In England, for example, fire accounts for one total loss of a building of national importance (ie a Grade II-listed building) approximately every four months and one total loss of a building of international importance (ie a Grade I-listed structure) each year. Sadly, at least 12 non-listed historic buildings are lost each year and at least 20 listed buildings which are either empty or otherwise derelict are destroyed between any given January and December. 

In 2019, the roll-call of fires in heritage premises was nothing if not significant. The Crown Theatre in Eccles. Eastbourne’s Claremont Hotel. The Bilston Art School in Wolverhampton. Wimbotsham’s St Mary’s Church. The Oxford Mills in Ashton-under-Lyme. Bedford’s Shires House. The Harris Court Mill in Bradford. The list goes on. While there may not have been total destruction at some of these Grade II or otherwise locally-listed locations, serious damage exacted by smoke spread or the sheer volumes of water necessarily used in fighting the blazes that occurred will have been an inevitable outcome. 

The National Trust

The National Trust is an independent charity and membership organisation for environmental and heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust owns upwards of 500 heritage properties, among them many historic houses and gardens, industrial monuments and social history sites. Knole in Kent (the former Archbishop’s Palace), Mount Stewart in County Down, Chartwell (the one-time home of Winston Churchill) and Snowshill Manor in Gloucestershire are but a few of them.

In line with industry guidance and the aforementioned Regulatory Reform Order (Fire Safety) 2005, The National Trust determined to investigate methods and solutions that would improve overall fire alarm management systems and strategy in relation to its heritage properties. The focus was very much on reducing unwanted fire signals, the verification of fire alarms at Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs) and logging all servicing and testing activities.

For several years now, The National Trust and LAN Control Systems have enjoyed a successful working relationship. Using its Nimbus solution, LAN Control Systems has addressed many of The National Trust’s challenges and reduced associated risks while ensuring the highest standards of compliance.

The risk posed to life and damage to property where fire is concerned is necessarily a high priority for The National Trust. Indeed, the task of fire prevention and detection is very demanding. Each heritage building has its own unique set of challenges. On that basis, selecting the correct fire alarm products and service providers, as well as defining the correct processes, are all crucial to the effective protection of any given building. 

Traditionally, when a fire alarm activates, a signal is sent to the ARC which has very limited information. It shows that the alarm is sounding, but operators have no way of knowing if that is due to a genuine fire, or whether there are people on the site. This presents a risk for heritage properties. If it’s assumed that nobody is at the site (for example overnight) and if there’s a high likelihood of it being a false alarm, the job will be classed as low priority by the local Fire and Rescue Service.

‘Confirmed fire’ notification

By setting up the fire system in a way which alerts ARC operators if a second device becomes activated at the location, a ‘confirmed fire’ notification triggers directly to that ARC and those same operators are then able to relay this information immediately to the Fire and Rescue Service along with any further alarms. This does not rely on a key holder arriving at the site to confirm the fire (a process which can take valuable time in the event of a real blaze).

Furthermore, the specific device information provided by Nimbus will report if a Manual Call Point has been activated. This can then be used to alert the local Fire and Rescue Service that there’s a person (or persons) present at the location and potentially in danger.

The information provided also affords ARC operators the precise location of the trigger devices and therefore the location of the fire, which allows the Fire and Rescue Service to make the necessary arrangements (for example, by ensuring that a hydraulic platform is available or by contacting the local water authority to increase water pressure if necessary).

This system solution was initially trialled at Scotney Castle in Kent for a period of ten months. Following the success of that trial, Nimbus was approved for use by The National Trust and is currently employed at more than 50 of its heritage locations. The National Trust has worked with some local Fire and Rescue Services to introduce them to the system.

The daily management of fire alarm systems is controlled efficiently by a suite of mobile phone apps. The apps allow users at each site to schedule weekly test reminders and processes and to receive notifications for all fire events. Event notifications are sent to users of the Notify App via push-notification, giving them real-time access wherever they may be as well as the ability to provide updates through the app to the rest of the team. 

All records of events, testing and servicing are logged in a central database which can be accessed by authorised users from any location. The ability to create multiple users provides wider protection because notifications are sent to all recipients simultaneously such that response time is reduced for the nearest Trust member of staff, thereby ensuring that the event can be verified and escalated if necessary.

Continuous and infinite

The information logging is continuous and infinite. Information has been continually captured at Scotney Castle since the system was first introduced back in 2013. The National Trust is able to use this data to create reports, monitor patterns and have a fully compliant audit trail.

When it’s time for weekly testing to take place, the app sends a reminder to the designated person and provides them with the specific details of which Manual Call Point to check to avoid duplication and ensure correct and complaint rotational testing. The end user then follows a pre-loaded checklist of the necessary steps, for example contacting the ARC and alerting building users to notify them that a test is taking place. When the test is performed, the information automatically transmits to Nimbus and the device is marked as a pass or fail with the user able to add comments and photos to record against specific devices that might require attention.

A second app records all maintenance and service testing into a digital log. When a National Trust site is visited by a maintenance engineer, the engineer will have an active list of devices which are scheduled for servicing within the designated service period. As the engineer completes the tests, they receive notifications which enable the confirmation of activation and performance to verify the test, giving a pass or fail outcome. The engineer can add their own notes and photographs for supplementary information if required.

This process provides a paper-free method of recording testing without the need for The National Trust to use administration-heavy methods that can be very time and resource demanding. Furthermore, service and call-out engineers receive fault notifications enabling immediate response to events that require attention. Engineers are able to review the fault details remotely and respond accordingly.

Graded response

Bob Bantock, heritage fire safety specialist at The National Trust, explained: “The ability to identify the individual device of a fire alarm activation enables staff and remote monitoring services to respond accordingly. If more than one detector activates, the response can be graded, which then satisfies the call challenge policy of the local Fire Brigade. Nimbus allows us to manage and monitor our automatic fire alarm activations, which ultimately reduces the local Fire Brigade’s burden in terms of false alarm call-out response.”

Bantock went on to state: “The solution provides an independent audit trail of the fire alarm control system which allows our members of staff and contractors to share the fire event log from any location. We can monitor the weekly fire alarm tests and fire alarm engineer activity, with all false alarm activations being part of the mix.”

With Nimbus in place, The National Trust knows the right people will have the right information at the right time. This ensures fire alarms are dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible, reducing the risk of potentially devastating fires at its myriad properties while lowering the level of false call-outs and associated costs borne by the Fire and Rescue Service.

Adam Welton is Head of Sales at LAN Control Systems. For more information, visit www.lancontrolsystems.com