Brandschutz Spezial - Fire extinguishing systems

Fire extinguishing systems ensure a happy ending

The "Midsummer Tale" of the Football World Cup 2006 in Germany and the European Football Championship 2008 in Austria and Switzerland were huge crowd-drawing events that presented for many thousand people an occasion for happy and carefree parties. 2010 in South Africa is yet again such an occasion. When lots of people meet, life and limb must be protected. Modern fire extinguishing systems should therefore be installed as a matter of standard in major event locations such as sports arenas, but also in airports, train stations or in hotels.

bvfa - Federal Association for Fire Protection Technology - has awarded in the past the quality seal "Sprinkler Protected" to such locations. The Allianz Arena in Munich is one of them, just like Duesseldorf Airport, the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, the industrial fair grounds in Nuremberg and more than 30 other locations. These construction principals are exemplary in matters of fire protection - an area in which Germany is unfortunately still a developing country. With 1.17 fire fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, Germany only takes 7th rank among 19 western industrial nations. Switzerland ranks first with 0.53 fire fatalities.

Since a long time, the bvfa advocates regulations and legislation to increase the level of protection. Omissions in fire protection are usually only noticed when the damage has already occurred. In matters of fire protection, the state may not withdraw from its responsibility for the life and health of its citizens. In addition to the protection of lives, fire protection aims to safeguard economic and cultural assets. Fires in warehouses or logistics centres often cause economic ruin for a company. A particularly sensitive are computer and data centres without which nowadays no company can operate any longer. There exist in particular tailor-made solutions, such as inert gas systems that can even prevent the outbreak of a fire.

The loss is irreparable, if historical buildings and art treasure fall victim to fire. The fire in the Anna Amalia library in Weimar in 2004 was an explicit testimony thereof, and most recently, the fire in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hallshows that even fairly recent monuments  of our civilisation are not sufficiently protected. This issue describes how modern fire protection measures are implemented in particularly sensitive buildings, as well as the challenge for fire protection technology in the case of IT systems,wind energy farms or in der steel industry.

And finally I want to draw attention to the third objective of the fire protection industry. Our environment. Contaminated extinguishing water, toxic flue gas, destroyed nature leave an imprint that may damage or destroy the basis of our existence. Let us protect what we treasure. Modern fire protection technology cannot make fairy tales come true, but we can at least ensure many happy endings.