Sprinklers were installed in just 3 percent of English schools where fires broke out in the past five years, say reports. Ministers are now under increasing pressure to make sprinklers compulsory in all new and refurbished schools – as is the case in Scotland. The news comes as the government drags its feet in response to its consultation over updated guidance into fire safety design in schools, which was launched in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said it was “time that the government wakes up to the idea that investing in sprinklers is a small price to pay when measured against the threat to life”. Freedom of Information responses from 38 of the 45 fire services in England showed that firefighters had attended 1,950 incidents at schools since 2014. Just 61 (3.1 per cent) of these had sprinkler systems installed.
Fourteen fire services which responded to a total of 489 reports of school fires said that not a single blaze they attended was in a building with a sprinkler system installed. The figures relate solely to primary and secondary schools and do not include derelict properties.
The government ran a consultation process from March to the end of May on fire safety design in schools, calling for evidence to revise and update guidelines in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017 and a review led by Dame Judith Hackitt. However, the government is now five weeks past the 12-week timeframe in which departments are expected to publish responses.
Areas that fared significantly better than the 3.1 percent average include Northamptonshire, where 31.8 percent of fires attended were at schools with sprinkler systems installed. Gloucestershire and Cleveland both had sprinklers in 14.3 percent of schools where there were fires. Cleveland Fire Brigade was called to Outwood Academy Bydales in Marske-by-the-Sea last October following an electrical blaze in a washing machine. The school was fitted with sprinklers, which firefighters said had contained and extinguished the fire by the time crews arrived.
“This incident once again proves the value that sprinklers can play,” Joe Flounders, Head of Fire Engineering at Cleveland Fire Brigade said. “They also bring down the cost of fire, reduce the impact on the environment and minimise disruption to the community.”
London Fire Brigade (LFB) has attended the most school fires since 2014 – 350. Of these, just 10 schools, or 2.9 per cent, had sprinklers installed.
