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£2,000 sprinkler systems to be fitted at high-risk homes
Sprinkler systems are to be fitted in the homes of immobile elderly people in Hull as part of efforts to cut fire deaths.
Although the numbers of house fires have fallen, the number of people dying in blazes remains at around six per year.
Humberside Fire and Rescue, together with NHS Hull, Hull Council and the Safeguarding Adults Board, are to install 10 systems in the homes of people in the city in a year-long trial, with the prospect of hundreds more to follow.
The people given the systems have to be immobile, smokers and with a history of fires in the home. They may be on medication and they may also be alcohol dependent.
The cost of the systems, around £2,000 each, will be picked up by the taxpayer.
The system, provided by Ultra Fire Group measures just 6ft by 1ft by 1ft, has its own water supply, and produces a “gentle” mist in the event of a fire, creating a “survivable atmosphere for human life” in the vital minutes before firefighters arrive.
Daryl Oprey, head of safety at Humberside Fire and Rescue, said: “It’s not a deluge of water.This is quite an advanced system which is used in very confined spaces and creates a very fine mist which takes the energy out of heat and smoke and makes the environment more breathable. (The people they are aimed at) are generally immobile, spending most of their life in the living room in front of the TV, or maybe the bedroom if they are confined to bed.”
Mr Oprey said there were exceptions – three children died in a house fire in Bridlington in 2010 and Anna Carter and Victor Crowther, who were both 46, died in a fire at their home in Montrose Street last June.
But he added: “Generally you are more likely to die in a fire in Hull if you meet this particular criteria.”
Asked whether the cost could be justified, he said: “It costs about £1.3m to deal with a fatality. If it saves one life it will pay for itself.”
Wales last year voted through a law to make sprinklers compulsory in all new homes. The brigade has launched an e-petition to extend the law to the rest of the UK.
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