Photo from Wikipedia.
| Description |
English: A sign warns hotel guests not to hang items from fire sprinklers.
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| Date | 7 October 2017, 19:41:53 |
| Source | Own work |
| Author | Scott Brody |
One year, long ago, we had to evacuate three times because of false fire alarms.
The St Andrew's Cross, Flag of Scotland, currently (2019) part of the UK
The first fire alarm was at Peebles Hydro, a large hotel on the mountain top of Peebles in Scotland. The chefs were out on the lawn, a bride in her white night-dress, and hundreds of people and staff. The red fire engines clanged noisily uphill towards us.
When the emergency was declared over, the hotel had to cook the breakfast again for the morning breakfast buffet.
Flag of the USA
Later that year, in the USA, our lunch was interrupted by a fire alarm. We waited so long, and got so hungry, that eventually we went off elsewhere. We did go back into the hotel and offer to pay for our drinks and starter, but they apologised and did not take our money.
Next drama was on New Year's Eve. A wedding party in Florida in a marquee below set off the fire alarm. A relative bought some sparklers for our child. They set off one on the balcony. the smouldering sparkler was taken into the bathroom to dunk it safely in water. Then the fire alarm went off again. We assumed it was the wedding party.
Then the manager came up to see us. He said, "It's from your floor of the hotel. Was it you? Were you smoking?"
Mystified, we replied, "No. We are non-smokers."
Years later, we realised that our smouldering hand held firework might have caused the problem.
Flag of Singapore
This year (2019), the wonderful Jewel shopping mall attached to Changi Airports terminals, with a multi-storey fountain, has suffered from a leak. Not from a leaking water fountain, I understand, but from sprinklers set off by something.
Flag of England, the St George's Cross, fpart of the Union Jack.
The Union Jack flag of the UK.
UK House Fire And Sprinklers
I had friends in London who went on holiday leaving neighbours to watch their house. They had sprinklers. What could go wrong?
They had a house fire caused by their supposedly hibernating tortoises waking and eating through wiring whilst the family was away on holiday. By the time the neighbours arrived, and the fire brigade arrived, the house was filled with black smoke. My friend said water damage to the furniture and furnishings and clothes was an equal issue.
As I recently discovered in London, after three or four days of water, in a bathroom, water has turned to mould and mushrooms are growing in your carpets.
How Sprinklers Help
How do sprinkers work? Some have a system with a plug of wax. When the wax melts in heat, water is released. As I have learned, water must be mopped up quickly, so that people don't slip on the floor, and mould does not grow.
Action and Inaction!
Avoid smoking and setting off fireworks indoors. Candles and fire ceremonies could also set off alarms and send people evacuating in a panic.
The costs could include injuries to running people, slipping on wet floors, damage to furnishings and goods, loss of business.
On a reassuring note, I like to think that in a fire there are sprinklers.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_sprinkler_system
Scotland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peebles_Hydro
USA
visittheusa.co.uk
UK
visitbritain.com
Singapore
http://theindependent.sg/jewel-changi-airport-leaks-again-waterfall-now-reaches-the-mall/
singaporeair.com
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/second-water-leak-at-jewel-changi-airport-due-to-sprinkler-issue-11482610
https://www.visitsingapore.com/contact-us/
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on Jewel shopping mall and Changi airport, and destinations such as Singapore, Scotland, the UK and the USA. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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