SMART FIRE PREVENTION SYSTEM INSTALLED IN ASSISTED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN YORK

The Wilberforce Trust is a charity dedicated to helping and empowering those with sight and hearing loss and impairment in the York and North Yorkshire area to live fulfilling and independent lives. The Trust had tenants in community based supported housing and family homes around York but wanted to deliver an innovative ‘extra care’ housing scheme designed especially for people with a visual impairment and other disabilities; the first of its kind in the area.

Wilberforce House offers 30 one-bed, open-plan purpose-built, self-contained apartments along with a Living & Learning Zone – providing education and leisure activities – a courtyard cafe and offices for the Trust itself, all set in four acres of accessible landscaped gardens, including a large sensory garden. The apartments utilise smart home and assistive technology personalised to their lifestyle needs.

A consultant was employed to review the development’s plans with regard to fire safety. His report included recommendations for additional fire safety measures including the ability for cooker hobs to be switched off by an alarm, as kitchen fires are a significant risk with 50% of all accidental house fires starting in the kitchen.

WHY THE FIRECHIEF KITCHEN STOVE GUARD?

The initial solution proposed was costly as it meant hob alarms would need to be hard wired into each apartment’s fuse board. Damian Pocknell, Head of Housing, Facilities & IT at the Wilberforce Trust recalled having seen and read about the Firechief Kitchen Stove Guard and realised that this would be much more cost effective. The fire consultant agreed and subsequently signed off on the Kitchen Stove Guard as the approved solution.