The Loss Experience: Counting the Cost of Arson
Every year, the devastating effects of fire result in dramatic losses to education and, each year, the financial consequences continue to rise. It is projected that losses in 2000 will reach an all time high of £85 million but the cost in social and psychological terms cannot be estimated.
	In 1999, 97% of the serious fires were started deliberately. In the same year, the prevalence and gravity of arson led to educational establishments heading the table for the number of fires that caused losses of over a quarter of a million pounds.

No other type of building is as vulnerable to criminal attack. All too frequently, educational premises are exposed to the risk of easy access and extremely rapid fire spread. The design of educational buildings constructed over the last thirty years excludes fire breaks or compartment separation. Consequently, once started, a fire will sweep through open spaces and particularly, ceiling voids, increasing the speed and intensity of the conflagration and the area of the fire spread. This, in its turn, provides a difficult and dangerous challenge to the fire fighters who must control the blaze.

Increased awareness of losses due to theft and vandalism has led to a growing need to introduce risk management programmes. Yet the major cause of financial loss remains untackled. However, the relatively simple expedient of installing an automatic sprinkler system will greatly reduce the economic consequences of a fire.

The Comprehensive Solution: Automatic Sprinkler Systems

Sprinkler systems provide the most effective form of protection against fire, ensuring continuous protection throughout the day and night, during term-time and vacation periods.

The industrial and commercial world has chosen to install sprinkler systems for over a century to protect premises and property from the ravages of fire. Moreover, it has since been recognised that sprinkler systems also safeguard life. Consequently, sprinklers have been used in areas such as shopping malls and retail stores, not simply to protect property but to protect lives.

Fortunately, the United Kingdom has not yet witnessed loss of life in a fire at an educational establishment. But, the American experience warns against complacency. After a fire claimed the lives of ninety-three children and three teachers at Chicago’s Our Lady of the Angels School, experts agreed that a sprinkler system would have saved the life of every victim. In North America, the lesson was learnt the hard way. The early and automatic intervention of a sprinkler system prevents fire spread and reduces the heat and smoke, dramatically reducing every life-threatening aspect of a fire.

A sprinkler system comprises a water supply, (often the town mains)  a set of control valves, an array of pipework and sprinkler heads. Sprinkler heads are heat detectors, designed to activate at a pre-determined temperature, most frequently 68°C. In the event of a fire, the ambient temperature rises and activates the sprinkler, discharging the water in the connecting pipework. The water is deflected to create a spray pattern, which controls the fire, by optimising the use of water. Meanwhile, the flow of water through the system initiates a fire alarm and alerts the local Fire Service.
	Sprinkler Head.	Bulb shatters as temperature rises.	Water is released & deflected into spray pattern.

Sprinkler Fact v. Popular Fiction Fiction Fact When a sprinkler head operates all of the sprinklers go off together, flooding the building. Sprinkler heads detect heat and are only activated upon reaching the critical design temperature. British Automatic Sprinkler Association figures compiled over a twelve year period examining 16,800 fires in sprinkler protected premises, demonstrate that 44% were controlled by 2 sprinklers or less and 78% by 10 sprinklers or less. Sprinklers go off accidentally. Sprinklers are designed and tested to very high standards. The chance of a manufacturing fault is one in sixteen million. Water damage is often more extensive that fire damage. Sprinklers are designed to operate at a very early stage in the fire's development thereby severely restricting the fire' growth and limiting the amount of water needed to bring the fire under control. Thus, damage will clearly be less than that caused by uncontrolled smoke or fire and the water damage will be significantly less that that caused by the Fire Service who, necessarily, arrive only after the fire has increased in area and intensity. Automatic sprinkler systems are expensive. The cost of installing sprinkler protection to a new school may be as little as 1.8% of the total building cost and annual service costs is as little as £150. Furthermore, there may be additional financial benefits in reduced insurance discounts and the elimination of deductibles

Engineered Solutions To Malicious Damage

The success of sprinkler system performance is an unquestionable fact. Sprinklers not only detect the presence of a fire but they actively control the flames, eliminate fire spread and reduce heat and toxic fire products so saving property and life. Furthermore, localised application assures minimal fire and water damage.

The experience of sprinkler-protected schools and colleges invalidates the argument that sprinkler systems are easy targets for vandalism. It is possible to design a solution by:

• Locating pipework at high levels or concealing it behind false or open grid ceilings.

• The sprinklers, too, can be concealed or installed above non-combustible open-grid ceilings.

As the photograph reveals, sprinklers are not conspicuous and so the potential for malicious damage can be minimised by taking measures to reveal the systems' presence only to school staff. A correctly designed, installed and maintained sprinkler system will escape the notice of vandals and eliminate the extensive damage caused even by the multi-seated fires favoured by the most dedicated arsonists.

A Final Thought…

Consider that £85million could have resulted in the installation of sprinkler systems in 1200 educational premises.