Residential Sprinklers Extinguish Kitchen Fire

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A supported living property based on the third floor of a flat complex in Epsom experienced an accidental kitchen fire in the early hours of the 29th June. Luckily, thanks to a concealed fire sprinkler head in the open plan kitchen, the fire was extinguished within minutes.

According to the fire safety organisation, FireSafe, around seven thousand people a year are injured in kitchen fires, with nearly two thirds of domestic fires happening either during or following cooking. It’s unlikely that individuals will own a fire extinguisher in residential properties, which is why it is so important to have life-saving precautions – such as concealed fire sprinklers – installed.

The accidental kitchen fire occurred just after midnight at 00:04 whilst the resident was asleep in their bedroom. Whilst fires themselves are dangerous, the smoke can be even more deadly, especially when individuals are sleeping and unaware of the developing threat.

In cases like this, smoke detectors are effective in alerting residents to the fire, but do nothing for quelling the threat. Whilst smoke detectors are now installed in over 80% of all UK homes, their presence alone cannot guarantee absolute safety. Residential sprinklers are set off directly by heat and only those in the vicinity of the fire discharge, meaning that when a kitchen fire accident happens, the flames are quickly and effectively extinguished within minutes, with the absolute minimum risk of water damage.

Property developers are increasingly recognizing the benefits that residential fire sprinklers can have; the supported living flat that the accidental fire occurred in was fitted out with concealed sprinklers in line with the rest of the property. Not only do these provide peace of mind to residents and their loved ones, they also provide key relief to the already strained fire services.

Whilst the fire service did attend the third floor flat to confirm that the fire had been extinguished and that there was no further threat, fire sprinklers have proven to save the emergency services both time and money in water expenditure. Without having to dispense gallons of water to quell fires, both the expenses of the visit and the time on the scene are decreased. This means the fire service have more time and resources to attend other critical incidents.

Luckily, in this instance, there was minimal damage and no injury. However, not all cases turn out so well. Another accidental kitchen fire in the stately Cupola House of Bury St. Edmunds nearly destroyed the property in 2012. This dealt a shocking blow to the town as the Cupola House was a Grade 1 listed building.

AES Sprinklers – Cupola House

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Built in 1693 by Thomas Macro, the stately Cupola House is one of Bury St Edmunds’s most iconic buildings. It therefore came as a great blow to the town when a kitchen fire almost entirely destroyed the property in June of 2012.

It didn’t take long, however, for work to begin on restoring the Grade 1 listed building to its original glory. The task of rebuilding Cupola House was awarded to Bury-based contractors, Seamans, and following extensive consultations with statutory bodies such as English Heritage, work commenced on 13th January 2014.

This began with providing heavily reinforced concrete foundations to the building’s basement, and has been followed by numerous other challenging tasks to strengthen its structure, such as erecting a steel frame (spanning four of the property’s five floors) to be sympathetic to what remained of the original oak frame, and completely dismantling an 11m chimney in order to rebuild it to a height of 22m.

Boiler Service – It’s Never Too Early

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With the changeable weather we get here in the UK, it’s hard to know whether you’ll be needing the air conditioning or the central heating from one day to the next. When it comes to heating, however, it’s important to have your gas boiler serviced by an experienced, reputable engineer, to ensure that you don’t get left in the cold when winter comes knocking. Now, you may be thinking that, with the sun still shining and Wimbledon fever not yet passed, it’s far too early to be worrying about a boiler service and safety check, but trust the experts when we say that nothing could be further from the truth.nn nnThe reasons why now should be the time for arranging a boiler service and safety check are twofold:nn n

  • Each new boiler we install comes with an extended guarantee absolutely free of charge, as we are Approved Gold installers for Worcester Bosch. However, although boiler insurance means your boiler should be seen to within 24 hours of a breakdown, gas engineers become extremely busy over the winter months, and you may therefore struggle to get a booking in good time.
  • It is generally impossible to tell whether there is a fault with your boiler until it is turned on for the first time, which will typically be in October; far too late for a prompt repair.

Generally, the best initial course of action is to turn your boiler on during the summer months (just long enough for your radiators to start heating up) to see whether it is working. If it isn’t, then you can arrange a repair with a heating engineer in plenty of time to make sure that you’re well set up for winter. However, there are several underlying gas boiler problems that won’t become apparent from this cursory measure alone. These include:

  • The top of the radiator remaining cold while the bottom is hot, resulting from a trapped air pocket within the central heating system.
  • Boiler pressure regularly dropping or rising, which could be lead to hazardous and catastrophic failures.
  • Your boiler could be using more gas than it should, which could simply mean it’s in need of a good clean, but could also be indicative of more serious problems.

No one wants to be uncomfortable in their own home, and by arranging a gas boiler service and boiler safety check during the summer months, you can ensure the perfect indoor temperature for you all year round. But on top of this concern, the danger of boiler explosions should also not be ignored. Gas boiler explosions can be caused by a safety valve failure, corrosion or wear of critical parts, a low water level, or several other underlying problems. All of these causes can be easily diagnosed and remedied by an experienced and qualified Gas Safe engineer during an annual gas service.

We have a team of expert Gas Engineers who are fully qualified, card-carrying members of the Gas Safe Register. Here’s our very own Dean Turner, proudly displaying his Gas Safe Register membership card, and remember, as the popular hashtag currently doing the rounds on social media goes, you can always #TrustTheTriangle:

To further add the credibility and reliability of our fantastic engineers, we have also recently gained accreditation from Health and Safety regulators, Safecontractor, and are also listed contractors on both Checkatrade and Trustatrader, the latter of which contains several reviews attesting to our sterling work ethic. To sweeten the deal, we also give all of our customers over the months of July and August a free pack of delicious biscuits:

So, not only do we make sure you’ll be safe and warm come winter, we also satisfy your sweet tooth in the process! If you need your condensing, system, or traditional gas boiler serviced or repaired, or a brand new condensing or system boiler installed by our expert team of Gas Safe engineers, get in touch today – We look forward to hearing from you: 01473 320 350 | services@aesnational.co.ukn