Southampton Independents: HOSPITAL FIRE: "Were There Sprinklers at Yesterday's Major Incident Hospital Fire?" asks Andrew Pope Independent Network Shirley By-Election Candidate

Redbridge Towers Fire in 2017 with no sprinklers

"Were there sprinklers at yesterday's major incident fire at Southampton General Hospital? I am asking the hospital Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officers this and other questions."

says prominent fire safety campaigner Andrew Pope, who is standing as the Independent Network candidate in the 26th February 2026 Shirley by-election.

Joe Campbell on BBC South Today this evening confirmed that sprinklers were NOT installed. It appears that the hospital attempt at explaining why is that the West Wing is "old" and that sprinklers might get expensive equipment wet and patients wet.

Andrew says: "I raised sprinklers with the BBC's Emily Hudson yesterday and true to her word, she raised this with the reporter Joe Campbell. I will be thanking Emily and Joe for getting an answer. More answers are needed now though, once the immediate chaos caused by the fire has receded."

Andrew Pope, Fire Safety Campaigner

Andrew says:

"This Major Incident reminds me of the terrifying near-miss fire in early 2017 at Redbridge Towers when I was an Independent councillor for the Redbridge ward. Nobody died. But firemen did at Shirley Towers. Sprinklers were not installed back then in either of the Towers.
I campaigned and won for sprinklers to be installed in all Council tower blocks.

Just yesterday though, I heard allegations by Council tenants in Shirley Towers that fire safety may have been compromised. The Cabinet Member for Housing, Labour Councillor Andy Frampton refused to answer the concerns that residents raised with me over fire safety.

I am asking the same questions now of the Hospital's Chief Executive and Trust Board that I asked the Labour-run Council in 2017.
Although there are differences, this seems to be a very similar scenario. I have offered the Hospital's senior management the right of reply.
I hope that the hospital management do not pretend like the Labour-run Council did, that residents or patients do not want sprinklers. They do. And they need them.
And this fire would very likely have been prevented completely, or better contained, if sprinklers were installed and working.
Sprinklers save lives and property and in the vast majority of cases, they contain or extinguish fires.
There would have been no need for over one-hundred firefighters to attend, and hundreds of patients moved internally and outside Southampton, and no need for a huge emergency service response, if sprinklers were installed and working in the endoscopy unit. Perhaps they were installed and failed, so I am asking Hospital senior management."

The questions that Andrew has put to David French, the outgoing Chief Executive, and the Trust Board and Governors are as follows:

Were there sprinklers where the fire broke out?
If there were sprinklers, did they contain the fire?
If there were sprinklers, why didn't they put the fire out?
Will the hospital review fire safety in this building and across the hospital estate, and install sprinklers? If so, where, by when?
If there were electrical, medical or other reasons why sprinklers were not appropriate for that location, please provide those.

If you want Southampton residents and patients to be protected from fire, please vote for Andrew Pope Independent Network at the 26th February Shirley by-election.

Independent Network Emblem

Perhaps hospitals are a special case where sprinklers do not work? No, definitely not. The experts on sprinklers, BAFSA, the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association, said in 2024:

"The impact on UK hospitals and healthcare premises from fire is significant with 636 fires in hospitals in the year to September 2019.

The government’s fire standards for the NHS briefly mention, but do not commit to, the installation of sprinklers. The guidance also repeatedly states that where sprinklers are used, other fire prevention measures may be reduced to prove cost-benefits and design flexibility. Despite this even some new builds have not included sprinklers and almost no mental health trusts have sprinkler systems.
All sprinkler systems will save lives and:
Protect firefighters
Limit the size of a fire
Control fire spread
Provide additional time to evacuate
Limit fire damage
Be beneficial in terms of business continuity
Compensate for any impairments in passive fire
protection measures"

Images and photos from Andrew Pope's previous campaigning work on fire safety are below and on many other posts and pages on the Southampton Independents website. This is just a selection of his work.