Humberside Fire and Rescue Service to install domestic sprinkler systems

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) is one of the first fire and rescue services in England to be working with partner organisations to identify residents who may benefit from having sprinkler systems fitted in their homes.

Daryl Oprey, Head of Safety at Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, said: "A fire can take hold very quickly and the products of combustion can have serious effects within minutes. These systems help by slowing this process making the atmosphere more breathable, increasing the chance of survival."

A partnership agreement will be signed today between HFRS, Hull City Council Adult Social Care, Hull City Council Housing, Hull NHS Trust, Hull Citysafe, ARC Safety, Arco, Kingston Communications, HICA and Age UK at HFRS headquarters. This agreement is a commitment by all of the agencies involved to fund and/or support the initiative either financially or by referring those who are most vulnerable to death or serious injury resulting from a fire in their home to the service.

The service is working closely with its partners in this project to identify residents who are most at risk of having a fire in their home. Dedicated Community Safety staff from the service deliver home safety visits to the high risk groups to provide information and advice to all residents and businesses about staying safe from fire. As part of this partnership funding has been set aside specifically to make the lives of the "high risk" residents safer, which may include the installation of sprinkler systems.

Daryl continued: "Currently very few domestic sprinkler systems are installed in the Humberside area. However we need to increase the scale of these installations and the service is committed to doing so. We will continue to work in partnership with other organisations to identify and install these life saving systems where they are needed the most.

"We do not have the advantage yet of the recently passed legislation by the Welsh Assembly which makes it a legal requirement for all new build domestic properties to have sprinklers fitted. Even so most of our vulnerable are not in new build premises and these stand-alone mobile units do provide an immediate means to fire fires whilst awaiting the arrival of our firefighting crews."