Sprinklers only part of the solution: experts

Sprinklers: Are they the answer?

Yes, if properly installed, maintained and inspected, automatic sprinkler systems can easily contain potentially fatal fires and prevent tragedies like the one in LIsle Verte, experts agree.

Trouble is, not all systems are kept up to date, they say and in some cases arent working at all. In fact, in some buildings there hasnt been water flowing through the pipes for years.

Sprinklers are reliable if the upkeep has been done, said Benot Blain, a Montreal city fire inspector from 2002 to 2012 who now has his own company, Blain Inspection.

If theyve been drained once a year to clear any debris in the pipes and if the water-intake valve is always left open, there shouldnt be a problem, he said.

But in his decade with the fire department working downtown and in Rosemont, Blain estimates 70 to 80 per cent of buildings in the city dont do routine maintenance of their sprinkler systems.

While most of those are warehouses and other non-residential buildings, Blain said hes seen big apartment buildings 16 to 20 storeys high whose sprinklers were neglected.

In one case, a building built in the 1970s had a non-functioning sprinkler system. Someone closed the intake valve one day, and no-one knew, Blain said.

When that happens, sprinklers give a false sense of security. People think theyre protected in case of fire, when really, theyre not.

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Sprinklers only part of the solution: experts