7th International Fire Sprinkler Conference & Exhibition, Copenhagen, 24-25 June 2008

1. 7th International Fire Sprinkler Conference & Exhibition, Copenhagen, 24-25 June 2008 • Protection of Cultural Resources • Sprinkler Protection for Historic Wood churches • Magnus Arvidson • Department of Fire Technology • SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden

2. The objective of the project • Gather relevant fire statistics and examples of illustrative fires or attempts to start fires. • Summarize lessons learned and practical experience from recent fire sprinkler installations. • Identify issues where additional research, testing or development work is needed. • The full report, ”An overview of fire protection of Swedish wooden churches”, SP Report 2006:42 may be downloaded from www.sp.se.

3. Fire is historically the main reason for damage • During almost 800 years, 1193 – 1984, a total of 524 churches and chapels in Sweden were damaged by fire, war, plundering, collapse, storm, snow, etc. • In total, 447 (85%) were damaged or destroyed by fire. • A total of 106 of these fires • occurred due to lightning.

4. Examples from recent years • Katarina church (1990) • Rörbäcksnsäs (1992) • Salabacke (1993) • Lundby (1993) • Trönö (1998) • Sura old church (1998) • Skaga chapel (2000) • Bäckaby old church (2000) • Södra Råda (2001) • Ryssby (2001) • Ledsjö (2004) • Ramnäs (2006) • Älvestad (2007) • Öjebyns kyrkstad, Piteå (2007) Photo: Johnny Gustavsson Älvestads church March 29, 2007

5. Example: The Södra Råda church (erected c. 1310) Photos: The Swedish National Heritage Board

6. Unique and invaluable wall- and ceiling paintings

7. Highest artistic quality (paintings from 1323 and 1494)

8. Destroyed in a fire in November 2001 The fire was deliberately started.

9. System installation case studies in nine churches • Hedareds stave church • Frödinge church • Älgarås church • Habo church • Fröskog • Skållerud • + three additional churches Objective: Summarise lessons learned and practical experience.

10. Six of the studied churches (year of installation) Hedareds Stave Church (2004) Frödinge (2007) Älgarås (2005) Habo (2006) Fröskog (2006) Skållerud (2006)

11. The ’typical’ system installation • Water supply: Pump unit and water reservoir positioned in a separate building adjacent to the church. • Complete protection of the interior. • Complete protection inside attics, bell towers and other concealed spaces. • Protection of the exterior. Primarily facades, in some cases also the roof.

12. Separate buildings house the water supply Hedareds stave church Habo church Älgarås church Fröskog church

13. Water supply equipment Fröskog church Fröskog church Habo church Habo church

14. Älgarås church (interior)

15. Habo church (interior)

16. Frödinge church (attic)

17. Fire detection systems for facades and roofs Fröskog church Fröskog church Habo church Hedared stave church

18. Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs Älgaråschurch

19. Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs Habochurch

20. Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs Skållerud church

21. Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs Älgaråschurch Photo: Jan G Andersson

22. Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs Habochurch

23. Experiences from the installations • Aesthetical aspects important. All installations are impressively discreet. • The level of system complexity is in some cases high. • The use of antifreeze solutions may be questioned. • Functional tests are essential to discover troubles. • Unintentional activations are quite common. • Unintentional fire alarms are quite common. • Inspection, tests and maintenance are expensive.

24. Discreet installations Älgarås church Habo church Habo church Hedareds stave church

25. The level of system complexity in some cases high • Different systems for interior vs. exterior. • Different system types; wet-pipe with antifreeze, dry-pipe, deluge, etc for different parts of the churches. • Different fire detection techniques; aspirating systems, linear heat detection wires, etc. • New technical solutions, previously not used; gas driven pump units, flushing of piping with compressed air, new nozzle designs, etc.

26. The level of system complexity in some cases high The attic of Habo church

27. Drainage of the system - special solutions. Frödinge church Fröskog church Y-connections instead of T-connections for pendent nozzles. Compressed air is used to flush the system piping.

28. The use of antifreeze solutions may be questioned Careless use of antifreeze in Habo church.

29. Functional tests essential to discover troubles • Several cases documented where systems have failed to operate during functional tests: • Pressure drop inside pneumatic pilot line not high enough to open a deluge valve. • Component failure in alarm panel = solenoid valve of a pre-action system never opened. • Electrical motor protector activated and stopped a pump during fill-up of the system piping. • Mechanical problems with the deluge valves.

30. Unintentional activations quite common • Six cases (totally four churches) of unintentional activations were documented. All cases involved facade protection: • Rain water got inside a junction box of the detection system. • Unknown reason (same church) • Too low temperature rating of heat detection wire on facade. • As case 3. • As case 3. • Manufacturing defect of a component in the fire alarm panel.

31. Unintentional fire alarms quite common • Several cases of unintentional activations of fire detection systems have been documented: • Water leaking during a hydrostatic test found its way in to a smoke detector. False alarm some weeks later. • Leaves were burnt outdoors – activated detection system inside attic space. • Too low temperature rating of linear heat detection system installed on facades.

32. Inspection, tests and maintenance are expensive • Example from Habo church, cost per year: • Own personnel: $5,000 (3 hours / week). • Service agreement (the system): $8,250. • Service agreement (the power generator): $1,500. • Annual, third party inspection: $3,800. • Totally: $18,550+ VAT = $23,200 per year. • Important: Statistics shows that regular inspection, tests and maintenance is the key to high reliability.

33. Issues where additional research, testing or development work is desired • Water discharge densities and design areas relevant for heritage buildings. • The protection of facades and roofs. • Fire detection for facades and roofs. • Flashover prevention systems. • Water exposure to vulnerable paintings and décor. • The use of antifreeze. • System reliability. • Streaming of water in cold sprinkler piping – the risk for clogging.

34. Thank you!