Clever fire prevention finds imitators

The old town of Bern, enclosed by the Aare loop, is world-famous - it needs to be taken care of. And that starts with fire protection. What was launched in the summer of 2017 as a novelty in Switzerland has now become established and proven, according to the CasaSegura Bern association: The fire protection concept of the same name is designed for an entire neighborhood - the lower old town in Bern. The solution, which is voluntary for property owners, always covers an entire building. The wireless radio smoke detectors are used in particular to equip the stairwell, basement, common rooms and technical rooms, as well as the attics, which have a lot of wood (see "SicherheitsForum" 4/2017, from p. 11). In the event of an emergency, the fire department is automatically alerted via mobile radio and must arrive on site within ten minutes. The fire protection concept does not include individual apartments for which the tenants or owners are responsible themselves.

60 systems installed

The potential of buildings in the lower old town that "should" be equipped with the radio technology is estimated at a good 500. The association, which was set up on the initiative of the Gebäudeversicherung Bern (GVB) CasaSegurawhich includes the local homeowners' association, the city of Bern and other partners, recently took stock. According to the report, the number of private properties in the lower part of the old town where the detection system is installed is steadily increasing. More than 60 properties are now equipped with the system, including all the residential buildings on Badgasse in Bern's Matte district. In the coming months, the commissioning of more than 20 additional systems is planned, according to the responsible persons.

Initially, the project was rather slow. Markus Caflisch, managing director of the CasaSegura association, explains on request that the implementation required a certain lead time. It is not uncommon for a property to be made up of different floor owners: "This means that several parties have to agree to such an installation, which takes a certain amount of time.

The idea for CasaSegura goes back to a major fire involving several houses on Junkergasse in 1997. 20 years later, the implementation of the voluntary fire alarm system started in the historic quarter. The narrow alleys, wooden attics and firewalls, most of which do not reach to the roof, present a great potential danger for a fire inferno.

Already alerted several times

Since they were installed, the smoke alarms in Bern's old town have already alerted the fire department on several occasions. According to Thomas Jauch, media spokesman of the fire department of the city of Bern, burning food has activated the radio alarms in several cases. Thanks to the direct alerting and the rapid intervention of the professional fire department, worse was prevented in each case.

The fire alarm system in the Old Town works on the basis of SIM cards. If the mobile network were to fail and a fire were to break out in the Old Town perimeter at the same time, there would be no alarm call. But the GVB and the Bernese professional fire department consider this probability to be very low.

Analogous project in Lucerne

At the end of June 2019, an analogous project called Fire Guard was launched for Lucerne's densely built-up city center, because a major fire in the city center, which is steeped in history, is one of the horror scenarios. The mostly older masonry often no longer meets the desired safety standards. And buildings that are not or only gently renovated do not have to be adapted to the currently valid fire protection regulations. As a supplementary measure, the Lucerne Building Insurance (GVL) has therefore launched the Fire Guard project. According to Boris Camenzind (see also interview) of the GVL, the same technology is used as in the federal capital. Of course, the "Feuerwächter" is also a voluntary fire warning system.

In the Lucerne project, all basement, general and technical rooms, the staircase and especially the attic will also be equipped with radio smoke detectors. But in contrast to Bern, a radio smoke detector will also be placed in the entrance area of each apartment. According to the Lucerne authorities, this means that in the event of an apartment fire, all residents will be alerted very quickly and have enough time to leave the building.

In Lucerne, too, the houses equipped with the fire warning system are fitted with a key tube (see graphic): This enables the professional fire department to quickly gain access to the source of the fire.

Cost item

According to information from Lucerne and Bern, installation costs of between 10,000 and 15,000 Swiss francs can be expected, depending on the size of the property. In Lucerne, the property owner is reimbursed for 40 percent of these investments, in Berne it is 25 percent.

In the first eight years, the fire alarm system normally works maintenance-free. After that, however, the batteries, and probably the entire radio detector, must be replaced. However, building insurers no longer contribute to these costs, which are low.

"In the case of the fire guard, the equipment is not VKF-compliant".

What tipped the scales in favor of the "fire watch" concept in Lucerne?

Boris Camenzind, Head of Prevention Department, Building Insurance Lucerne (GVL)The decisive factor was certainly the fire protection concept for the old town of Bern. In addition, we had a fire at the listed restaurant and hotel Schlüssel in the city center in May 2018. Buildings such as hotels are equipped with a mandatory fire alarm system (mandatory system), but we generally want to improve the fire safety of the houses in the city center. This is because these usually have weak fire walls in the attic. The danger is great that a conflagration will quickly affect other properties.

How large is the affected perimeter?

Primarily, the densely built-up inner city and adjacent parts of the new town are to be better protected. We have 900 addresses of homeowners in the corresponding perimeter. It is quite possible that we will expand the perimeter at a later date.

The same technology is used in Lucerne as in Berne. 

The system works well there. In addition, as in Bern, the "fire watcher" must be cost-effective. A property owner can choose between two specialized companies that install the fire warning technology. The owners and the residents are instructed how the system works and how to behave in case of fire.

The GVL pays 40 percent of the costs of the system - a nice chunk.

This is start-up funding that is to run for three years. After that, we will see whether the GVL will continue to reimburse a cost share of 40 percent. Now we are hoping for a corresponding response. How does that look? In June, we sent out a letter with the "fire watcher" offer to all 900 affected owners. Within three weeks, we received ten concrete inquiries and visited the houses in question. That's a start. Once the first systems have been installed, word will get around and we can follow up again.
I would like to emphasize that the "fire guard" is not a VKF-compliant system. Therefore, it does not replace mandatory installations, which have a completely different safety standard - with corresponding costs.