When Norwich resident, Mr P R Valasa left his home one evening he had no idea of the incident that was about to unfold, when an unattended candle caught onto nearby furnishings starting a fire in her rear living room.
With no one in the house to raise the alarm or call the fire service, the blaze could have grown unchecked. In the worst case it might have even destroyed the property and neighbouring properties completely, as well as putting lives as risk.
This situation highlights a common problem for homeowners. Many fires start while residents are asleep or away and traditional smoke alarms, whilst invaluable in the home, rely on someone being present to respond. Without active fire suppression in place, there is nothing to stop a fire escalating.
Luckily Mr Valasa’s property was fitted with an Automist system in 2020 by approved installer Intelligent Mist as part of a fire strategy to enable building control sign off on renovations after his loft conversion. The system uses discreet wall mounted spray heads linked to a mains connected high-pressure pump. If triggered by a detector, Automist’s smart sensors monitor temperature and patterns of heat rise to identify fire conditions and deploy water mist if there is a genuine fire.
When the candle ignited furnishings, the system detected the fire in under two minutes and activated, suppressing the flames quickly. This active response is what differentiates Automist from traditional sprinkler systems.
After the incident Intelligent Mist engineers attended the property to drain and reset the system. Automist manufactuers, Plumis were able to analyse the system’s data logs which confirmed the performance. Automist had operated exactly as designed, providing rapid suppression at a critical moment.
On returning home later that night Mr Valasa found only minor smoke damage and some water soakage, not a devastated home. Norfolk Fire and Rescue assessed the situation and concluded that the system had prevented far greater damage.
Because Automist targets fires directly at their source and uses water mist rather than large volumes of water, the damage caused by activation was limited and manageable. The system suppressed the fire before it spread further, protecting both the property and surrounding homes.
Philip Bueno, Director at Intelligent Mist, said: “This incident proves how critical early detection and suppression can be. Importantly, the homeowners ensured their servicing was religiously completed annually to ensure that the system would operate should the worst happen. In this case, it functioned exactly as it should have when it was most needed. This highlights the importance of regularly maintaining fire safety systems.”
Mr Valasa said: “I was shaken to think what might have happened if the fire had been more aggressive. Instead the system acted fast and kept things under control. It has given me a level of confidence in my home safety far beyond my expectations.”
William Makant, CEO of Plumis, added: “This case underlines why intelligent fire suppression is so important in modern homes. Automist’s ability to detect and suppress a fire even without someone being aware of the danger shows its potential to save lives and property. We are grateful to Intelligent Mist and Mr Valasa for helping share this real world example of success.”
