We were all moved by the story of the four Warwickshire firefighters who tragically lost their lives in November 2007 fighting a massive blaze in a warehouse at Atherstone on Stour, near Stratford-on-Avon in England. Just a few days later, there was a huge blaze at a warehouse on the 2012 Olympic Park in East London which could be seen across the capital. But these are by no means isolated incidents, since there are more than 2,500 warehouse fires every year in the UK.
Any warehouse fire brings with it a significant risk of death and serious injury, as well as the risk of substantial damage to property and businesses. However, those risks are substantially reduced where the warehouse is fitted with a fully functioning sprinkler system. There are still those who maintain that water damage from sprinklers can cause more damage than a fire, but this view is increasingly being dismissed by those who have seen the devastation that a warehouse fire can cause, and also the water damage from fire brigade hoses. It is also far less likely that the fire brigade will enter a warehouse without a sprinkler system unless there are known to be people trapped inside.
