Fire breaks out at Norfolk fire station – due to lack of sprinklers
A version of this story originally appeared on our sister website, IFSEC Global.
Fire fighters from across Norfolk and Cambridgeshire were called to a blaze at a fire station in Downham Market, which took hold due to a lack of sprinkler system in the building.
A fire engine and thousands of pounds worth of fire-fighting equipment was destroyed in the fire. Replacements have already been provided, but are being kept at the nearby police station. Nobody was injured in the blaze, which started in the fire engine bay.
Speaking to the BBC, Norfolk’s deputy chief fire officer Roy Harold said: “Normally we go to other people’s fires, but tonight we had to go to our own. I think there is a fire safety message there for us. This building’s relatively new, but it wasn’t sprinklered.
“If it’d been fitted with sprinklers, we wouldn’t be here today chatting about this because the fire would’ve been put out very, very quickly automatically.”
Nigel Williams, Norfolk’s chief fire officer, said: “Our priority today is to provide full fire cover for the people of Downham and I am pleased that this has been achieved very quickly.”
Dan Roper, Norfolk county council cabinet member for public protection, said: “Although incidents like this are very rare, we have contingency plans in place to deal with emergencies such as this.
“This event reminds us that nobody is immune when a fire breaks out.”
An investigation into the fire has been launched.
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Fire breaks out at Norfolk fire station – due to lack of sprinklers
Fire fighters from across Norfolk and Cambridgeshire were called to a blaze at a fire station in Downham Market, which took hold due to a lack of sprinkler system in the building.
Safety & Health Practitioner
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Rather like the fire at the Fire Service College at Moreton in Marsh, where they hadn’t carried out a fire risk assessment. Google it and you should see a picture of an ex-fire engine in an ex-garage.
Sorry, my mistake. 1 ex-garage and 8 ex-fire engines at Moreton.
Further evidence perhaps that the fire & rescue services are not necessarily the best people to be relying on when devising a fire strategy or performing fire risk assessments.
Fire risk management need not always be done by those with fire service operational experience.
My son loves Fireman Sam and as is his want, he watches it constantly.
I personally think it has some very education points in it, however, when they set the fire station on fire i laughed at the thought and thought “as if”
How wrong can one man be!