High numbers of deaths and injuries in German healthcare facilities
bvfa, the German fire protection trades association, has for several years used press reports to collect statistics on fire deaths and injuries in German healthcare facilities. It found that at least 20 deaths and 470 injures occured in 2022. These
10 killed by fire in apartment building near Lyon
French media report that a fire in an apartment building in Vaulx-en-Velin, a suburb on Lyon in France, has killed 10 people, of whom five were children, and severely injured four more. 11 others were less seriously injured, including two
EFSN is 20 today!
20 years ago today, on 6 December 2002, I received confirmation of the company registration of the European Fire Sprinkler Network. I could then make all the other arrangements for the EFSN to start operating on 1 February 2003 -
Daily fire injuries in German healthcare facilities
The German fire protection trade association, bvfa, has collated news alerts about fires in healthcare facilities. These are fires large enough to become newsworthy. Through to the end of October 2022 there were 141 such fires in Germany, leading to
Fire Sprinkler Europe 2022 – Rome a great success
On 28 September over 90 delegates attended a one-day bilingual conference in Rome, jointly hosted by the EFSN and the Italian Chapter of the SFPE. Speakers included representatives from the Fire Brigade headquarters who gave a brief overview of Italian
Dutch car parks to be protected with sprinklers
On 13 September the Dutch government published a royal decree that introduced a regulation for sprinklers to be fitted in car parks larger than 1,000 m2 (about 40 cars) below sleeping risks. See Artikel 4.223a of the Dutch car park
Fire sprinklers required in Belgian car parks
On 23 June the Belgian government published a royal decree introducing requirements for sprinklers to be fitted in large underground car parks. The government also published an update to the fire code. Among other changes, it clarifies that if sprinklers
Record sprinkler shipments in Sweden in 2021
Sprinklerfrämjandet, the Swedish sprinkler association, has reported record sprinkler shipments for 2021. In total 911,214 sprinklers were sold, an increase of 20% on 2020 and 100,000 sprinklers more than the previous record in 2019. Of these sprinklers 41,760 were residential, 6,000
Two hospital fires – two very different outcomes
Greek and international media report that a fire on 6 April in a COVID ward of the Papanikolaou hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece, killed one patient and left two seriously injured. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. There
Webinar by Wes Baker of FM Global
EFSN hosted a webinar by Wes Baker of FM Global who gave an informative and helpful introduction to data sheets 2-0 and 8-9, discussing their origins and providing some details of the background to the design guidance they contain. He