Statistics for 1996 (latest official figures available) show there were 114,000 building fires which resulted in over 800 deaths and 18,200 injuries during that year. Of these - 68,000 were fires in dwellings which caused 590 deaths and 14,000 injuries. These statistics clearly show that your home is a dangerous place. In fact fires in the home account for over 60% of all building fires and over 75% of all casualties. You are three times more likely to die in a fire at home than anywhere else. Smoke alarms give a good warning of fires but are only effective if there is someone there to hear them. What happens if you are deaf or bedridden or - simply not there? A recent report shows that over 95% of children for instance will sleep through a smoke alarm. So what can we do to improve the situation? We certainly cannot expect the fire brigade to respond any quicker. In fact with modern traffic causing so much congestion response times are likely to get worse - not better. What we can do is to turn from passive fire protection to active fire protection with residential sprinkler systems.

A domestic fire sprinkler system is installed to BS 9521 and can be installed into houses, flats, apartments and residential blocks. They can be fed by two different ways. One way is to connect up to and existing towns main.The other way is to incorporate its own pump and tank to provide the correct amount of water and pressure it requires.