Sprinkler system prevents fire spread at food distribution warehouse

Following multiple calls from members of the public who had reported plumes of smoke and explosions, more than eight fire crews and 30 firefighters from the Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to the Brinklow Distribution Centre in the early hours of 16 July. A fire located in an external trailer unit had spread to four other tractor units and one wall of the warehouse facility itself.

The building’s sprinkler system, located inside the structure, activated as the heat from the fire entered the building. Together with the swift actions of the Fire and Rescue Service’s employees, this meant that the fire was contained and prevented from spreading any further.
A sprinkler system is typically designed for a fire within a structure or building. However, history has shown that it can also have a benefit when external fires try to enter a building by operating, wetting the local area and limiting fire spread. In this case, had the fire not been contained, it would have exerted a far greater impact for this logistics business, which supplies food products to Waitrose supermarkets. The facility was back up-and-running the following day, with minimal loss of stock and impact to deliveries.

Similarities with South London

The massive 30,000 m² high bay warehouse is large enough to accommodate five football pitches and officially opened in 1993 as one of the principal distribution hubs for Waitrose.

The fire at the Brinklow Distribution Centre draws similar comparisons to one that broke out at a Sainsbury’s distribution centre in South London in 2015. Likewise, that blaze began in a trailer unit parked outside before spreading to other vehicles and the outside wall of the depot.

The London Fire Brigade said at the time that the sprinkler system Sainsbury’s had installed helped to prevent devastating damage to the depot and allowed the business to be back operating as normal as possible in a quick time frame.

“There is absolutely no doubt that, in this case, the sprinkler system, along with the quick actions of our crews, prevented a much more serious fire from spreading any further into the depot and causing potentially millions of pounds’ worth of damage to both the building and stock inside,” explained the London Fire Brigade’s deputy assistant commissioner Mark Andrews.

Home Office figures

Home Office figures show that the Fire and Rescue Service in England has attended 26,800 fires in industrial and commercial buildings in the past three years. From offices to industrial buildings and healthcare facilities through to hotels, the impact of a major fire can be devastating. Indeed, many businesses never recover.

“The cost of fires in industrial and commercial buildings stretches far beyond the expense and impacts on individual businesses and insured costs,” urged Iain Cox, chair of the Business Sprinkler Alliance. “Fires are the cause of significant economic, environmental and community costs, many of which are ultimately borne by the taxpayer.”

Cox continued: “The two incidents described highlight the benefits of having sprinklers installed. Currently, automatic fire sprinklers are not widely used in the UK because the guidance rarely prescribes them to be so, yet automatic fire sprinklers prevent large fires because they activate automatically over a fire, controlling or even extinguishing the blaze before firefighters arrive. They save lives and protect firefighters who attend these incidents, but they also prevent significant damage or destruction of a building by fire.”

In conclusion, Cox observed: “Above all, sprinkler systems help to maintain business continuity. In the event of a fire, many businesses with such systems installed find that they are back up-and-running in a matter of hours.”

*For more information about the Business Sprinkler Alliance visit www.business-sprinkler-alliance.org