BAFSA has received several enquiries in recent weeks regarding the efficacy of BS 9251 sprinkler systems against fires involving deep fat frying. Questioners appear to be confused by publicity urging householders ‘not to throw cups of water on to chip pan fires’.
It’s long been known that sprinklers are highly effective against cooking oil and fat fires – if they were not, then they would not be installed in food factories and large catering kitchens. This is, of course, because the water is applied to the fire as a finely divided spray.
However to settle the issue, BAFSA is making available a video of a kitchen fire test which shows clearly that a single sprinkler head operating at 49l/minute can totally extinguish a pan full of oil on a stove. The test was undertaken by the FPA at their test facility as part of work undertaken for the DCLG in 2012. We are most grateful to the FPA for making this available.
The video can be viewed on this site at: www.bafsa.org.uk/publications/ … ip-pan-fire.php
