Sprinklers played a critical role in limiting the spread of the fire at the ASOS warehouse near Barnsley on Friday night, according to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.
Phil Shillito, head of prevention and protection at SYFR, said: “The fire suppression systems installed by ASOS were sophisticated, worked effectively and played a significant role in reducing the spread of the fire in its early stages.
“This was still a major fire and our fire-fighters did a tremendous job in tackling the blaze and bringing it under control so quickly. But there is no doubt that the sprinkler system in place greatly limited the damage, and probably saved the warehouse from being destroyed.”
Currently, only warehouses and certain other commercial premises greater than 20,000 cu m must have sprinkler systems installed.
The fire service, through the Chief Fire Officers Association, is campaigning for this threshold to be lowered, and is urging companies to invest in sprinkler systems to protect their assets.
