Croydon University Hospital

A bank of 6 machines sterilise medical utensils by way of special cleaning process delivered at very high temperature and are critical for patient care services.

One of the machines developed a fault causing a serious internal fire which resulted in significant water and smoke damage as well as the loss of the machine and critical patient care services.

The replacement unit and the existing machines were fitted with a FirePro fire suppression system. The proposed fire detection and automatic
suppression system met client requirements and incorporated fire engineering basics, such as battery backed and monitored power supply, fault monitored circuitry and remote signalling to various ancillary plant.

Localised fire detection and suppression is not new, however enclosure integrity may cause limitations when traditional mediums such as pressurised gas are used. This was not an issue for FirePro, as it installed internally to afford maximum effective protection, at minimal cost.

Within 7 months of installation a second fire event occurred however it was a very different story. The FirePro system detected the fire and released the fire suppression agent. the fire was quickly extinguished within a few seconds. The fire & rescue service did attend but only to confirm that all was well, apart from one slightly damaged machine.