Hotels have sprinklers - right?

The New Year is upon us which means many of us will be starting to plan our 2024 vacation and some of us will be scheduling our work trips. But as you book your accommodation, have you ever spared a thought for fire safety? We normally take these things for granted in such premises and it is worth a reminder, writes Tom Roche, Secretary of the Business Sprinkler Alliance.

Many are stunned to hear that there is a hotel fire somewhere in the UK nearly every day. Over the past six years, England has seen 260 hotel fires on average per year, while the UK as a whole has seen 351 hotel fires in the same period¹. After recent regulatory guidance changes relating to buildings where people sleep, many people are surprised sprinklers are not the norm in hotels in particular those converted from older properties.

Several major hotel fires have made headlines recently. We are one year on from the tragic fire in the New County Hotel in Perth which claimed three lives. The investigation into this fire has continued throughout 2023 and we await the findings.

The Perth fire came just before the publication of the inquiry into the tragic 2017 fire at Cameron House Hotel near Loch Lomond which resulted in two fatalities and three individuals requiring hospital treatment. The report by Sheriff Thomas McCartney advocated for the mandatory installation of active fire suppression systems, specifically sprinkler systems, in historic building conversions intended for hotel use. The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) endorsed this recommendation, urging its application to all public-access buildings. In October 2023, the Scottish Government announced that an expert group would be established to consider historic hotel conversions and fire safety requirements.

These two hotels represent the spectrum of hotel accommodations. Cameron House Hotel has since reopened with enhanced fire safety measures, including a sprinkler system.

Last year saw the pattern of hotel susceptibility to fires punctuated by a string of incidents, with major fires ranging from Sussex to Ayr and Suffolk to Blackpool.

Sadly, most of these incidents did not capture the media attention in the same way. In the summer, the devastating blaze at the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton gained attention for its scale and destruction. Sadly, it was the not the first major fire at the hotel, with the same Grade II* listed hotel suffering a major fire back in 1998 as well. The July fire engulfed the historic hotel, leaving behind extensive debris and posing a formidable challenge to firefighting efforts from across three counties. Luckily, no one was injured in this event.

Due to concerns about structural integrity, sections of the hotel had to be demolished. After two days of disruption, normal services in this busy area of Brighton began to resume.

Surprisingly, building standards and regulations lack clear guidance on the provision of sprinkler systems in hotels, irrespective of their height. If such guidance had been in place, sprinkler systems would likely have contained these fires by activating automatically. Beyond their primary function in fire containment, evidence underscores the critical role that sprinkler systems can play a vital role in safeguarding human lives.

It is clear that not all hotels have fire sprinkler systems installed. In fact, you often have to search carefully to find accommodation with sprinklers, as this is not the sort of information you would find on the typical hotel search engine. With hotel fires happening regularly across the country, we believe that fire sprinklers need to become a standard consideration in such properties to protect the large number of people sleeping there.

This brings us back to the planning of this year’s trips. Do think about booking a sprinklered hotel, but whichever hotel you end up in do read the fire safety information on the door to the room – it is very important. Take those extra few moments to check your path out of the building as your safety during your hotel stay may depend on it.

More information:  https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables