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Overview
In any occupied building — whether a commercial office block, a hotel, a hospital ward, or an active construction site — the gap between a small fire and a catastrophic one is often measured in seconds. Fixed suppression systems are not always positioned where a fire starts, and waiting for the fire brigade is not always a viable first-response option. What building managers, fire safety officers, and construction site supervisors consistently need is a first-attack firefighting tool that any competent person can operate immediately, without specialist training, in the early moments of a fire event before it spreads beyond control. That tool is the fire hose reel.
The NAFFCO Fire Hose Reel with Semi-Rigid Hose is a CE-approved, purpose-built first-attack firefighting installation designed to provide a continuous, immediately available water supply at the point of need. Unlike flat lay hose systems — which require trained personnel to deploy, connect, and manage under pressure — a semi-rigid hose reel can be operated by any building occupant in an emergency: pull the hose, open the valve, direct the water. The hose holds its shape during deployment, does not kink, and does not require the operator to first unwind the entire length before water can flow.
What sets the NAFFCO fire hose reel apart in a crowded market is the combination of CE marking under the 0086 notified body, full compliance with BS EN 671-1:2012 for semi-rigid hose reels and BSEN 694:2014 for the hose itself, and the availability of both manual and automatic reel configurations to suit specific installation and operational requirements. NAFFCO is a globally recognised fire safety manufacturer with decades of experience supplying fire protection equipment to building contractors, facilities managers, and civil defence authorities across international markets — and that institutional credibility matters when a product is being specified into a life-safety installation that will remain in service for twenty years or more.
Key Features
Semi-Rigid Hose Construction — Deploys Without Kinking or Full Unwind
The defining characteristic of this fire hose reel is its semi-rigid hose. Unlike a flat lay hose that collapses without water pressure and must be fully unrolled before use, a semi-rigid hose maintains its tubular shape throughout deployment. In a real fire event, this means the occupant can pull only as much hose as needed, move directly to the fire, and open the valve — without first managing a tangled or collapsed hose length. The reduced operational complexity is not a minor convenience: under the stress of a real emergency, any simplification in equipment operation directly increases the probability of effective first-attack firefighting.
Manual and Automatic Reel Versions — Installation Flexibility
The NAFFCO fire hose reel is manufactured in both manual and automatic configurations. A manual reel requires the operator to physically pull the hose to begin deployment — suited to installations where deliberate, attended operation is expected. An automatic reel feeds hose smoothly as it is drawn, returning it under controlled tension when operation is complete — preferred in installations where ease of return and hose management after use is a priority. The availability of both versions under a single CE-approved product family allows architects, fire consultants, and M&E contractors to specify the appropriate configuration for each installation point without sourcing from multiple suppliers or managing separate compliance documentation.
BS EN 671-1:2012 Compliance — First-Attack Firefighting Standard
BS EN 671-1:2012 is the British and European standard that specifies the requirements for fixed firefighting systems using semi-rigid hose reels — covering design, construction, performance, and testing for hose reel installations in buildings. Compliance with this standard is the accepted benchmark for fire hose reel procurement across UK and European building projects, and is the reference cited by fire risk assessors, building control officers, and authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) inspectors when verifying that a first-attack firefighting installation meets regulatory requirements. Specification of a BS EN 671-1:2012 compliant hose reel provides the procurement evidence basis for building compliance sign-off and fire safety management documentation.
BSEN 694:2014 Hose Standard — Verified Hose Performance
The semi-rigid hose used in the NAFFCO reel system complies with BSEN 694:2014, the European standard for fire hoses used in fixed firefighting installations. This standard covers the hose’s pressure resistance, burst pressure, kink resistance, abrasion resistance, and dimensional requirements — verifying that the hose will perform to specification under the operating pressures present in a building’s firefighting water supply system, and that it will maintain serviceability across the years of standby service expected between fire events. For procurement teams and fire engineers, BSEN 694:2014 compliance confirms the hose is not simply CE-marked at the reel assembly level, but that the hose material itself has been independently verified to the relevant product standard.
CE Marking (Notified Body 0086) — European Market Compliance
The CE mark on the NAFFCO fire hose reel indicates that the product has been assessed against the applicable European directives and standards by notified body 0086, confirming conformity with European safety, health, and environmental protection requirements. For construction projects in the UK and EU, CE marking on life-safety equipment is not optional — it is the regulatory basis on which building products are accepted for installation in occupied buildings. The 0086 notified body designation identifies the specific certification body that assessed and approved the product, providing the audit trail required by building control authorities and principal contractors managing construction-phase compliance documentation.
Continuous Water Supply — Sustained First-Attack Capability
Unlike portable extinguishers — which carry a fixed, finite agent charge that is exhausted in seconds — a fire hose reel connected to a building’s firefighting water supply provides a continuous, sustained water flow for as long as the supply is maintained. In a developing fire where initial agent application does not achieve full knockdown, or where a fire re-ignites in an adjacent area, the continuous supply means the operator does not need to withdraw to locate a replacement extinguisher. For building fire safety designs where first-attack capability needs to be sustained long enough for the fire brigade to arrive and take over, a properly installed hose reel system provides that operational bridge.
Suitable for Buildings and Construction Works — Dual Environment Coverage
The NAFFCO fire hose reel is specified as suitable for installation in both completed buildings and active construction works — a distinction that matters on large construction projects where fire risk is present during the construction phase before a permanent fire suppression system is commissioned. Using a CE-approved, standards-compliant hose reel system on a construction site — rather than a temporary or non-compliant alternative — supports the principal contractor’s fire safety plan and provides a defensible equipment selection for HSE and building control inspection purposes during the construction phase.
Technical Specifications
Product Type: Fire Hose Reel with Semi-Rigid Hose
Brand: NAFFCO
Hose Type: Semi-Rigid
Reel Configurations: Manual and Automatic
CE Marking: Yes — Notified Body 0086
Hose Reel Standard: BS EN 671-1:2012
Hose Standard: BSEN 694:2014
Water Supply: Continuous (connected to building firefighting supply)
Suitable Environments: Buildings, Construction Sites
Fire Class Coverage: Class A (solid combustible materials)
Finish: Red (standard)
Benefits
The practical benefit of a semi-rigid fire hose reel installation is immediate and measurable: it puts a continuous, operational water supply in the hands of a building occupant within seconds of a fire being detected — without requiring any specialist firefighting training beyond basic hose deployment instruction. Where a portable extinguisher is exhausted in 15 to 60 seconds and must be replaced, a hose reel remains operational for the duration of the water supply. That sustained operational window is the difference between a contained incident and one that requires full building evacuation and brigade intervention.
From a regulatory compliance perspective, installation of a BS EN 671-1:2012 compliant fire hose reel system provides building owners and facilities managers with the documented evidence basis required for fire risk assessment compliance, building control sign-off, and insurance purposes. In the event of a fire incident, a building’s first-attack firefighting provision is one of the first items reviewed by investigators and insurers — and a properly specified, CE-approved, standards-compliant installation is the only defensible position.
For construction project teams, specifying NAFFCO fire hose reels at construction phase provides continuity between temporary and permanent fire protection — the same product that serves the site during construction becomes part of the building’s permanent installation, eliminating double procurement and ensuring the permanent installation is already commissioned and familiar to site personnel before handover.
The availability of both manual and automatic reel configurations under a single CE-approved product family reduces procurement complexity for M&E contractors and fire system installers managing large building projects where different zones may require different operational configurations — a single supplier relationship covers the entire hose reel requirement across the project.
Who It’s For
Building Services Engineers and M&E Contractors
A mechanical and electrical contractor designing and installing the firefighting water services in a new commercial building or hotel development needs a fire hose reel product that meets BS EN 671-1:2012, carries CE marking, and is available in both manual and automatic configurations to match the fire engineer’s specification for each installation point. Coordinating with multiple hose reel suppliers to cover different configuration requirements adds procurement complexity and creates multiple compliance documentation trails to manage. The NAFFCO fire hose reel range — covering both manual and automatic versions under a single CE-approved product family, with BSEN 694:2014 compliant hose — provides a single-supplier solution that simplifies procurement, documentation, and warranty management across the full installation.
Fire Safety Officers and Building Managers
A fire safety officer responsible for a hospital campus, a large hotel, or a shopping centre manages a fire risk assessment that includes first-attack firefighting provision as a documented control measure. That assessment needs to demonstrate that hose reel installations are compliant with current standards, maintained to the service schedule, and capable of operation by the building’s fire warden team. Specifying and maintaining NAFFCO BS EN 671-1:2012 compliant hose reels provides the standards reference needed to defend the risk assessment, and the NAFFCO brand’s international standing supports the credibility of the specification when the assessment is reviewed by insurers or regulatory authorities.
Principal Contractors on Construction Projects
A principal contractor managing a large commercial or residential construction project has a legal obligation under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations to maintain appropriate fire safety arrangements on site throughout the construction phase. Temporary fire protection arrangements — including first-attack firefighting equipment — must be appropriate for the site’s fire risk profile. Installing CE-approved, BS EN 671-1:2012 compliant fire hose reels at construction phase, rather than relying on portable extinguishers alone for large-footprint sites, demonstrates a proportionate and standards-aligned approach to construction phase fire protection that supports the principal contractor’s HSE compliance position.
Possible Applications
Commercial Office Buildings
Multi-storey commercial office developments install fire hose reels at each floor landing or at defined coverage points within the floor plate as part of the building’s first-attack firefighting provision. The semi-rigid hose reel allows any floor warden or building occupant to respond to a small fire in an office space, server room, or corridor before it develops — providing the critical first-response window while the building evacuates and the brigade responds.
Hotels and Hospitality Buildings
Hotel buildings present a specific fire risk profile: large numbers of sleeping occupants, varied ignition sources across kitchens, laundries, plant rooms, and guest areas, and a staff-to-occupant ratio that limits the number of trained first responders available. Fire hose reels installed in corridors and back-of-house areas provide the first-attack capability that hotel fire safety plans rely on to contain small fires before they reach guest accommodation floors.
Healthcare Facilities and Hospitals
Hospital and healthcare facilities face particular challenges in fire evacuation: patients who cannot self-evacuate, clinical areas where evacuation is itself a risk, and complex building layouts. For these environments, containing a fire at source — before evacuation becomes necessary — is the priority. Fire hose reels installed throughout ward areas, plant rooms, and clinical spaces provide clinical staff with first-attack capability that can arrest a developing fire while formal evacuation procedures are activated.
Large-Scale Construction Sites
Active construction sites accumulate fire risk: combustible building materials, temporary power cabling, hot works, and LPG cylinders used by trades. Principal contractors managing large sites install fire hose reels at water supply points across the site footprint to provide first-attack firefighting capability during construction phase — a proportionate response to the elevated fire risk present on sites where automatic suppression systems are not yet installed.
Shopping Centres and Retail Developments
High-footfall retail environments have fire hose reel installations at service corridor positions, plant room access points, and mall concourse locations as part of their fire safety management system. The continuous water supply from a hose reel provides a more sustained first-attack resource than portable extinguishers for fires in storage areas, service corridors, and back-of-house areas where fire load density is higher than in customer-facing retail spaces.
Educational Institutions and Universities
School buildings, university laboratories, and campus facilities have fire hose reels installed in corridors, laboratory areas, and plant rooms to supplement the automatic suppression and detection systems that cover specific high-risk areas. Laboratory fires — involving chemical spills, electrical equipment, or heating apparatus — are among the most challenging first-attack scenarios for building occupants, and a hose reel positioned near laboratory exits provides trained staff with a first-response option appropriate for the fire sizes most likely to occur in those environments.
Industrial and Manufacturing Facilities
Light industrial units, warehousing, and manufacturing facilities with Class A fire risk — from raw materials, finished goods, packaging, and production waste — use fire hose reels at strategic positions across the facility floor plan to provide continuous water application capability for fires in racking systems, storage areas, and production lines where a portable extinguisher’s agent charge would be exhausted before a significant fire is controlled.
Trust & Certifications
CE Marking (0086) — European Building Product Directive Conformity
The CE marking on the NAFFCO fire hose reel, assessed by notified body 0086, confirms conformity with the applicable European product directives and standards that govern the placement of fire safety equipment on the European market. CE marking is not a quality mark — it is a mandatory regulatory requirement for fire safety products installed in buildings across the UK and EU. Specifying a CE-marked hose reel from a notified body-assessed product family provides the regulatory compliance evidence that building control officers, fire safety consultants, and principal contractors require when signing off a first-attack firefighting installation.
BS EN 671-1:2012 — British Standard for Semi-Rigid Hose Reel Systems
BS EN 671-1:2012 specifies the design, performance, and testing requirements for fixed firefighting systems incorporating semi-rigid hose reels for use in buildings. This is the standard cited in fire risk assessments, fire engineering specifications, and building regulations guidance documents as the reference for first-attack hose reel installations in occupied buildings. Compliance with BS EN 671-1:2012 is the accepted evidence basis for demonstrating that a hose reel installation meets the statutory requirements for first-attack firefighting provision under UK and European building regulations. For procurement teams, specifying a BS EN 671-1:2012 compliant product eliminates the risk of a non-compliant installation being identified at building control inspection or fire safety audit.
BSEN 694:2014 — European Standard for Fire Hoses in Fixed Installations
BSEN 694:2014 is the European standard that specifies performance requirements for semi-rigid and lay-flat fire hoses used in fixed firefighting installations — covering burst pressure, kink resistance, abrasion resistance, coupling connection strength, and dimensional stability under operating conditions. BSEN 694:2014 compliance for the hose component provides independent verification that the hose itself — not just the reel assembly — meets the performance standard required for a life-safety first-attack firefighting installation. For fire engineers and building services consultants specifying hose reel systems, component-level standard compliance provides a more robust specification basis than reel-assembly CE marking alone.
NAFFCO — Global Fire Safety Manufacturer
NAFFCO (National Fire Fighting Manufacturing) is a globally recognised fire safety equipment manufacturer headquartered in Dubai, supplying fire protection products to projects across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and international markets. The brand is represented on major infrastructure projects, government facilities, commercial developments, and industrial installations across multiple continents, and holds a range of international certifications and product approvals across its fire suppression, detection, and protection product range. For procurement teams and project specifiers, NAFFCO’s established international market presence and multi-decade manufacturing track record provide a credible brand foundation for a product being installed into a life-safety building system that will remain in service for the building’s operational life.
Accessories & Variants
Manual Hose Reel Version
The manual configuration requires the operator to pull the hose from the reel by hand. Suited to installations where active, attended operation is expected and where the reel position allows easy physical access. Manual reels are typically simpler in mechanism and are appropriate for installations where post-use hose rewind under tension is not a priority — including temporary construction phase installations.
Automatic Hose Reel Version
The automatic configuration feeds hose smoothly under controlled resistance as it is drawn, and returns hose to the reel under spring tension when released. This reduces the physical effort required to deploy the hose and ensures the hose is automatically returned to a tidy, deployment-ready condition after use — reducing the maintenance burden on building management teams responsible for checking hose reel installations as part of periodic fire safety inspections.
Wall-Mounted and Recessed Cabinet Installations
Fire hose reels are available for surface-mounted (wall bracket) installation or installation within a recessed cabinet set into the building fabric. Recessed cabinet installations are preferred in occupied buildings where the hose reel must be accessible but should not obstruct corridors or create an impact hazard — typical in hotel corridors, hospital wards, and office floor plates where corridor width is managed. Surface-mounted installations are standard for plant rooms, warehouse environments, and construction site applications where aesthetics are not a constraint. Confirm the required installation configuration with your fire system installer or M&E contractor at specification stage.
Compatible Hose Reel Cabinets and Signage
Compliant fire hose reel installations typically include a cabinet or enclosure that protects the reel from mechanical damage and environmental contamination, and standardised identification signage (ISO 7010 compliant fire hose reel pictograms) to ensure occupants can immediately locate the equipment in an emergency. These elements are part of a complete, compliant hose reel installation and should be specified alongside the reel unit to ensure the installation satisfies fire risk assessment and building regulations requirements in full.
Get in Touch
If you are specifying fire hose reel installations for a building project, refurbishment, or construction site — or if you need to confirm the correct configuration, hose length, and installation quantity for a specific building type or fire risk assessment — contact us to discuss your requirement and request a formal procurement quotation.
Our team can assist with product selection against your fire engineering specification, confirm availability and lead times, and provide the compliance documentation needed to support building control and fire safety audit requirements.
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