A fire in a gym below a nightclub in the City of London during the early hours of Sunday morning (26 June) has highlighted the potentially life saving benefits of sprinklers say London Fire Brigade.
A security guard working in the four storey building on Crosswall, EC3N, which housed the gym and nightclub, was alerted to the fire by an alarm panel. When he investigated he found the basement gym full of smoke and that a sprinkler had been activated.
The Brigade was called and staff at the nightclub on the ground floor above the gym were immediately informed by the security guard.
Two fire engines and around 10 firefighters from Dowgate and Whitechapel fire stations attended the scene. When they arrived, crews found that the sprinkler system had successfully extinguished a small fire in a light fitting.
Thankfully there were no injuries and around 400 people were safely evacuated from the nightclub before firefighters arrived.
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: “This incident highlights the clear benefits of sprinklers to businesses and we would urge all companies and business owners to install them. In this case the sprinklers successfully put the fire out at an early stage, limiting damage to the building and preventing the people in the nightclub above from being put at risk from any fire.
“As well as limiting fire damage and being potentially life saving devices, sprinklers and other fire suppression systems help with business continuity by minimising disruption and allowing businesses to get back to normal as soon as possible.”
The Brigade was called at 0055 and the incident was over by 0122. The cause of the fire is believed to have been an overheating light fitting.